An 8-acre wooded property in south Naperville could become the site of 14 new houses if the Naperville City Council agrees with the recommendation of the Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission.
The commission unanimously endorsed a plan from Overstreet Builders for a subdivision of single-family houses called Reserves of Saddle Creek, proposed for west of Book Road and north of Hassert Boulevard. The houses would be built along an extension of Clearwater Lane that would connect the street from where it dead-ends just west of the site to where it starts again on the east side of Book.
But the layout required to align Clearwater from the west side of the property — where it sits slightly further north — to the east side at Book Road is causing some hurdles, officials said.
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Because the new portion of the street has to curve, two of the lots are smaller than required under a lot size standard called the 90% rule, said Anna Franco, a member of the city’s planning services team. One of them also has a smaller backyard than is required.
The developer is seeking a deviation from lot size standards and a rear yard setback variance to accommodate for these challenges, Franco said. The commission endorsed the requests in addition to rezoning the property to R1A for low-density single-family housing.
Council members will consider the proposal at a future meeting in addition to a petition for annexation and deviations from the engineering manual for new developments.
Before weighing in on the proposal, planning and zoning commissioners heard from two residents in the adjacent Saddle Creek neighborhood. Cathy Subber and Calvin Rowland voiced concerns about loss of trees and privacy, appropriate transitions between existing and new homes and the density of the project.
Subber, whose house is just west of the site, was encouraged to hear Overstreet Builders planned to develop it but said she fears the loss of natural areas and potential damage to her backyard, which she describes as “my sanctuary.”
“The homes that they build are beautiful,” Subber said about Overstreet, which has posted a sign on the property advertising home prices starting at $1.1 million. “But it’s something that leaves very little green space.”
Some green space would be retained in a stormwater storage basin on the north side of the property. But to provide water storage, plus build the new road and houses, Overstreet would need to remove many existing trees, documents show. Officials said the builder plans to add back 59 trees, and Douglas Overstreet, the company’s owner, said more trees also could be replenished through the landscape packages his company would sell.
Commission member Mark Wright suggested the developer work with neighbors to the west and south, such as Subber, to discuss potential landscape buffering or fencing “to allow some privacy.”
But nearby resident Rowland said the difference between existing and new homes would be “stark” regardless of efforts to transition or buffer.
“There’s no value to the existing community for this development. It will not improve the existing residents’ lives,” Rowland said. “The quantity of houses in that small of space is quite frankly excessive and, dare I say, greedy. Fourteen large houses crammed into this area is simply gross.”
On the site currently are a handful of aging structures, including houses and a silo, and all are slated for demolition. Franco said some of the structures are listed as “contributing to rural heritage” on the Will County Rural Historic Structures Survey Project, but they are not designated as historical landmarks and “are not protected from demolition,” she said.
Overstreet Builders is in communication with the Naper Settlement and Naperville Preservation Inc. about a potential photo survey of the site or salvaging of materials before any demolition would begin.
Marie Wilson is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.