Scaled-back housing development proposed for Huntley’s Regency Square: ‘Definitely a different plan’

A proposal to develop a new residential area at Regency Square prompted discussion and feedback Oct. 12 at a Huntley Village Board meeting.

Specifically, the proposal is to build 186 townhouses and 40 ranch-style duplex homes at the southwest corner Princeton Drive and Charles H. Sass Parkway, formerly Kreutzer Drive.

Larger residential proposals have previously been considered for the site.

The current proposal is still early in the process, with village board members reviewing the concept at last week’s board meeting and listening to public comments. The purpose of the concept review stage is to gather feedback from the board and residents for potential adjustments to the proposal.

The residents’ and village board’s reaction to the proposal was generally positive, with a few concerns about how the proposed development would affect traffic flow and adjacent neighborhoods.

Charles Nordman, the village’s director of development services, has the responsibility to work with the petitioner to address these concerns. Nordman believes that most of the feedback from the board was what he considered “common concerns” that can be dealt with.

“There will likely be some fine-tuning of the plan,” Nordman said, “most importantly to better buffer or separate the nearby neighborhoods from the duplex homes that are proposed.”

Nordman explained that this plan was significantly different from other plans that were brought forward to the village. The prior proposals included large apartment buildings, which Nordman said received a lot of opposition and forced the developers to consider other options.

“It’s definitely a different plan than the village has seen in the past,” Nordman said. “But this is a much less dense project than what’s previously been proposed to Regency Square.”

The next step is for developers to prepare their formal application where they will focus more on the engineering of the site, dealing with things like stormwater management. The application will then be reviewed by Huntley’s planning commission. This is where a public hearing will be held, giving residents an opportunity to voice their concerns or questions.

The plan commission meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23 at the Municipal Complex Board Room, 10987 Main Street.

The plan commission will then make a recommendation to the village board for a project vote.