Oswego development study to focus on Wolfs Crossing corridor

Oswego village staff will be studying how the development of Wolfs Crossing corridor is faring compared to what is envisioned there as part of the village’s 2015 Comprehensive Plan.

During the Feb. 6 Committee of the Whole meeting, village trustees voiced approval of such a study. Oswego Development Services Director Rod Zenner told trustees that staff could conduct an analysis of the corridor based on the current 2015 Plan.

“The result would be a specific ‘scorecard’ for development along Wolfs Crossing that would identify land uses and densities for development along the corridor,” he said. “Using the 2015 Plan’s analysis, the scorecard could identify a base total for the types of development [number of residential units, types of units] that the plan identifies for the area.”

Zenner said as development proposals are brought to the village for review, their merits will be compared to the “scorecard” to determine if the proposed development is appropriate.

In the village’s 2015 Comprehensive Plan identifies the area located north and south of Wolfs Crossing as a medium density residential district.

“In the plan, this area is identified to have a density of 2-3 units per acre,” Zenner said. “This is consistent with the density of the village as a whole.”

Recent housing developments in the Wolfs Crossing area include Piper Glen, Avanterra, Diamond Point, Hudson Pointe and Emblem, and most recently Sonoma Trails and the Drake property.

There currently are about 89 residential subdivisions in the village.

“Some of these subdivisions are high density, some are low density,” Zenner said. “Overall, we look at the village as a whole as having a density of 2.55 units per acre. That’s where the 2-3 units per acre came into the plan.”

As Zenner noted, the 2015 Comprehensive Plan states that developments along Wolfs Crossing should continue with this development pattern and the target density of 2-3 units per acre.

“This would allow for additional housing choice of townhomes, multi-family and single-family uses as long as the density mix for District 2 lies in that 2-3 units per acre,” he said.

Along with the scorecard proposal, trustees during the meeting mulled over two other options, including updating the 2015 plan and conducting a corridor plan for the Wolfs Crossing area.

Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman said that at a minimum, the village needs to do a corridor plan.

“We need a vision and a plan for what we see with Wolfs Crossing,” he said. “We need a plan that we can convey to residents about what we are doing with Wolfs Crossing specifically.”

Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said there has always been debate among board trustees about what density is appropriate for the Wolfs Crossing area.

“The purpose of this discussion is do we want to have a land use plan for Wolfs Crossing,” Di Santo said.

Trustee Tom Guist said the discussion about what kind of housing is appropriate shouldn’t just center on Wolfs Crossing.

‘We should be looking at this topic across the village,” he said.

Kauffman said the discussion about development along Wolfs Crossing isn’t just about housing.

“We need to be able to clearly lay out and articulate to our residents what it is that we see for the future of that corridor,” he said.

Updating the 2015 Comprehensive Plan would cost about $150,000 and take one to two years to complete. Doing a corridor plan would cost approximately $75,000 and take about one year to do, Zenner said.

Di Santo said he plans to bring updated costs to a future budget workshop to help trustees make a decision.

“It really is a budgetary question at this point,” he said.