Joliet neighbors urge delay in vote on D’Arcy-owned land

Prospective neighbors on Monday urged the Joliet City Council to delay a vote on the Prairie Landing subdivision planned for land partly owned by Mayor Terry D’Arcy.

But council members at the workshop meeting gave no indication that they were willing to table a vote scheduled for Tuesday on the final plat for Prairie Landing.

Residents from the Picardy subdivision said too many people knew too little about the Prairie Landing and what impact it may have on them.

“We went around and talked to neighbors,” said Melissa Patton. “A lot of them had no idea what was happening in their backyard.”

Patton was among 10 residents from the Picardy subdivision raising questions about the Prairie Landing plan.

DR Horton plans to build 120 homes on 44 acres of land located behind D’Arcy Motors on Essington Road.

The plan is for all single-family homes, which Councilman Larry Hug said is an improvement from previous zoning that allowed for apartments on the site.

“I’m completely, 100% comfortable with this project,” Hug said, noting he, too, would be a neighbor. Hug lives in the Warwick subdivision, which also borders the Prairie Landing site.

The Picardy complaints mainly came from residents along Vimy Ridge Road, an area that gets flooded by rain running off a farm field.

“We really do have concerns about the water,” said Vimy Ridge Road resident Kathy Lindsay.

The farm field is not part of the Prairie Ridge property.

DR Horton attorney Steve Bauer called the flooding issue “a red herring.”

“The stormwater concerns that Picardy residents have has nothing to do with this property (Prairie Landing),” Bauer said.

Bauer said the Prairie Landing development would create no more runoff for Vimy Ridge Road.

He objected to the idea of tabling a vote on the final plat.

“If you want to kill the project, then table it, We’re out of time,” Bauer said. “I feel we’ve done everything we can to address the neighbors’ concerns.”

The DR Horton includes a stormwater plan that would divert a portion of that runoff into a Prairie Landing detention pond.

Bauer said that there have been eight meetings, including two neighborhood meetings, about the Prairie Landing plan.

Still, Picardy residents said they wanted to learn more about the project before the council votes.

“If what’s proposed doesn’t work, then what?” asked Picardy resident Eddie Young.