Joliet OKs ‘affordable’ housing plan for far west side

The city of Joliet has approved plans for a subdivision that will have smaller lot sizes in exchange for what some consider affordable housing.

The City Council on Tuesday approved the Vista Ridge project, which will add almost 400 homes in a far west side section of the city that has not seen a major residential development since the recession of 2007.

The plans include smaller lot sizes than when the project was first proposed.

But the smaller lot sizes are viewed as a necessity in a changing marketplace that is making it more challenging to build houses that people can afford to buy.

“People need affordable housing,” council member Sherri Reardon said. “The only way to get affordable housing is to have some sort of change.”

Even so, Vista Ridge houses won’t be cheap.

The expected price range for single-family homes is between $375,000 and $425,000 for houses that will range between 1,400 and 2,500 square feet.

The 120-acre development will include 321 single-family residences and 76 townhouses.

It originally was designed in 2006 for 257 single-family homes and 72 townhomes, but construction stopped with the onset of the recession in which an overheated housing market was a major factor.

Reardon, who represents District 3, which includes the Vista Ridge site, said there has been no pushback against the project from local residents.

But council member Jan Quillman questioned the smaller lot sizes being permitted for Vista Ridge.

“I’m wondering, do we really want to go to smaller yard space for our residents with single-family homes?” Quillman said as the council considered the matter.

Quillman, however, joined other council members in a 9-0 vote to approve the revised Vista Ridge plan.

The Vista Ridge project is considered the first major housing project on the far west side since 2007, a time when subdivisions being built in that area made Joliet one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.

Residential development has begun to bounce back.

McNaughton Development and Ryan Homes, which will team up on the Vista Ridge project, also are building new houses to complete the nearby Deer Crossing subdivision, another development that was stymied by the recession.