November 22, 2024
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Yorkville City Council OKs 83 lot residential subdivision

Developer to build single-family homes between East Van Emmon and Route 126

By Mark Foster
Krysti Barksdale-Noble, community development director for Yorkville, talks during the Yorkville economic development committee meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at City Hall, 800 Game Farm Road.

FILE PHOTO: Krysti Barksdale-Noble, community development director for Yorkville, talks during a city economic development committee meeting at City Hall, 800 Game Farm Road. (Katie Finlon)

YORKVILLE – The residential building boom in Yorkville will be revving up again in the spring with construction expected to begin on the Timber Ridge Estates subdivision.

Developer Rally Homes is planning to build 83 single-family homes on a 50-acre piece of land that stretches from East Van Emmon Street on the north to a point just north of School House Road (Route 126) on the south.

The Yorkville City Council on Jan. 25 approved an agreement with Rally Homes for building on the property, which is already annexed into the city and zoned for residential development.

Yorkville Community Development Director Krysti Barksdale-Noble said that 43 home lots on the north half of the project have been platted and that construction will start there.

For the southern half of the subdivision, work remains to extend water mains to serve the property and this represents a significant part of the agreement between Rally Homes and the city.

The Timber Ridge subdivision would be bordered to the north by Van Emmon Street and to the south by Route 126 in Yorkville.

This map shows the location of the proposed 83-home, 50-acre Timber Ridge Estates subdivision in Yorkville, between East Van Emmon Street on the north and School House Road (Route 126) on the south. Construction is expected to get underway in the spring. (City of Yorkville)

Rally Homes is the successor to an agreement under which the development originally was to have been known as Kendallwood Estates and included a provision for an off-site water main extension.

Since then, the location of the planned water main has been included in the right-of-way that the Illinois Department of Transportation has indicated it will use for the eventual widening of Route 126.

Therefore, the new agreement approved by the council calls for the developer to install a single 12-inch high pressure water line along the highway but outside of the future IDOT right-of-way.

This is to be accomplished by purchasing additional property owned by Grace Community Church, which is the successor owner of the proposed Woodstone commercial development, sandwiched between the Rally Homes project and Route 126.

Rally Homes will purchase the needed land, construct the water main extension and then deed the easement and water line over to the city, Barksdale-Noble said.

Once the water main extension is complete, the developer will be free to move ahead with construction of the south half of Timber Ridge Estates.

The water main project comes with a May 31, 2024 deadline for completion.

Several aldermen balked at approving the development agreement because they see the Timber Ridge Estates name as being too similar to other developments in the area, but the deal was approved on an 8-0 vote.

The other key provision of the development agreement is a reduction in the land-cash donation to the city, from $101,000 per acre to $55,000 to per acre, based on a figure of 6.8 acres, Barksdale-Noble said.

Access to the subdivision will be from East Van Emmon Street. The primary collector street running the length of the development, known as Benjamin Street, ends before reaching Route 126.

A gravel roadway connection with the highway will be installed to allow emergency vehicle access, Barksdale-Noble said. A more permanent connection could eventually be made when the Woodstone development takes place, she said.