January 21, 2025
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Proposed development asking Yorkville schools to waive $60K in impact fees

Senior living community will be a 55-and-older development

By Joey Weslo

A senior living development is requesting that Yorkville School District 115 wave $60,000 of impact fees, which are designed to offsets costs of increasing the student population, because they argue their age-restricted community will have no impact on the school district's student population. Pictured, the Yorkville School District Administration Service Center, 602 Center Parkway, Yorkville (Shaw Media)

The developer of Heartland Meadows West, a senior living community, is requesting Yorkville School District 115 waive $60,000 worth of impact fees intended to offset the increased costs the increased student population from new developments would bring to the district.

The developers argue that because their 20 single-family homes are age-restricted to those 55-and-older, their development will have no impact on the district’s student body. The potential waiver of the fee would not affect how the development pays property taxes that help fund the school district.

The measure will require approval from the Yorkville School District 115 board at their Dec. 16 meeting.

The senior living development is located west of Cannonnball Trail and north of Blackberry Shore Lane.

Yorkville city code requires a transition fee of $3,000 per residential dwelling unit for any new subdivision in the city to offset increased school costs resulting from any developments.

Originally, the Yorkville Land Cash Ordinance of 1996 required developers to donate land to the school district based on the number of students generated by new subdivisions. However, it was amended to allow developers to instead make cash contributions.

Back in March 2024, the school board granted a similar waiver request to the developers of Northpointe Development, another senior living community located in Yorkville.

Yorkville city code creates an exception to the fee requirement for properties that will not be served by the school district.

District 115 currently is embarking on a public listening tour at each school to gather feedback on how the district can best upgrade their facilities to provide greater space and amenities for the students, including potentially more classroom space, a new athletics field house and a new performing arts center.

Available space within the aging school buildings across the district has become an issue as the rapidly increasing student population has outpaced their schools’ sizes and building spaces.