The Oswego Village Board will meet in a special session Wednesday night to vote on a developer’s request to annex 126.7 acres into the village for a housing development proposed on both the north and south sides of Wolf’s Crossing Road between Douglas Road and Southbury Boulevard.
M/I Homes of Chicago is seeking annexation and rezoning of the land for Piper Glen, a development to feature 326 single-family homes proposed just east of the Southbury subdivision in Oswego. The property is currently in an unincorporated part of Kendall County.
A public hearing on the developer’s proposal was held at the March 21 Oswego Village Board meeting where residents from the Southbury subdivision raised concerns about stormwater drainage issues and traffic that may be created as a result of the proposed project.
At the meeting, Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo announced changes made to the annexation agreement had yet to be reviewed so the proposal was tabled to the 6 p.m. Wednesday special meeting of the Village Board at Oswego Village Hall, 100 Parkers Mill.
“Some of the new developments abut against Southbury and residents question how they will affect traffic through our community,” Southbury resident Dan Fograse told trustees.
Fograse encouraged the village to work toward solutions concerning the issues raised by residents.
Southbury Boulevard is a main thoroughfare in the area, he said, and the impact of increased traffic on the road needs to be examined, he said.
“We are hoping the village will do a traffic study to better understand how traffic will go through our community and whether there is a need for stop signs, crosswalks or speed monitoring,” Fograse said.
The creek that runs through the Southbury subdivision is another concern, he said.
“Our concern is how the creek is being maintained and how it will change with development. We are constantly having to maintain the creek to make sure it is clear and doesn’t flood or create other problems with drainage ponds on our property,” Fograse said.
Fograse requested the village do a study and put in some checks and balances with the developer to make sure the creek stays clean and runs properly to prevent the backup of water in the area.
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The developer is proposing 70 ranch style homes and 256 two-story homes in the planned subdivision.
The proposed single-family homes would range from 1,457 square feet to 2,120 square feet for ranch style homes and 1,695 square feet to 3,505 square feet for the two-story homes, according to village documents.
The developer intends to introduce 17 different home plans to the market, M/I Homes land acquisition manager Greg Collins told trustees.
“Overall, the site density comes out to 2.6 dwelling units per acre,” Collins said.
The subdivision would include more than 30 acres of open space including a 4.5-acre park site, developers said. The park site was reduced from the original 10 acres identified in the concept plan at the request of the Oswegoland Park District, officials said.
Although the developer has nearly completed final engineering plans for the development, it still has to go through a review process and required final approval by the Village Board, according to village documents.
Trustee Kit Kuhrt urged the village to include in the annexation agreement language that would prevent the developer from changing the project from single-family homes to rental properties.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.