A new townhouse development has been proposed in Aurora near Fox Valley Mall.
Planned to be located on undeveloped land within a triangle created by the intersection of Ogden Avenue and 75th Street, the project would feature 185 townhomes within 38 buildings. The townhouses would be a mix of two and three stories, with between two and three bedrooms, that would be sold at prices in the mid- to upper $500,000s.
That’s according to representatives of M/I Homes, who presented the proposal to a committee of the Aurora City Council last week. No vote was taken, and the project is set to come before the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee again later this month after further work on an agreement between the city and the developers.
If the committee is in favor of the project at that time, then it will head to the Committee of the Whole before going before the City Council for a vote. Still, future approvals would be needed once final plans are completed.
It isn’t often that projects get proposed to a committee, only for the developers to ask for a delay — but the whole process has been atypical, said Russ Whitaker, an attorney who represented M/I Homes at last week’s meeting.
The site is a complicated one, and so there’s been a “robust back and forth” between the developers and city staff about the project, according to Whitaker. He said that much of those discussions centered around Commons Drive, a road that dead-ends on both the north and south side of the property, which is proposed to be connected through the project.
A mixed-use development previously planned for the site, called Melody Town Center, was never built. Through that project, the city of Aurora was planning to spend millions of dollars to extend Commons Drive and do other infrastructure work, but now M/I Homes is offering to build the road on its own, Whitaker said.
The developers plan to extend Commons Drive through the site, connecting it to itself at Ogden Avenue to the north and at 75th Street to the south, Aurora Senior Planner Jill Morgan told the committee last week. The intersection at Ogden wuld have dedicated left- and right-turn lanes, she said, while the intersection with 75th would have dual left-turn lanes.
There would be sidewalks built along the Commons Drive connection, but not along Ogden or 75th Street, according to Whitaker. He said the developers would instead pay the city a fee.
The Commons Drive connection has been long planned, Morgan said. Plans have also shown the need for more housing in the Route 59 area, Whitaker said, with housing affordability and supply also being discussed as an issue statewide
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.The proposed development’s planned 185 units would be split between three different model types, Whitaker’s presentation showed.
The largest of the models, the Pearson, would serve as the edge units for many of the development’s 38 buildings, he said. It is planned to have between 2,000 and 2,300 square feet, with three stories, three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms, according to the presentation.
The other three-story model, the Madison, would be the interior units. It is planned to have between 1,900 and 2,100 square feet, with three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms.
The final model, the Taylor, would also be built on the edge of some buildings. At only two stories, it has two bedrooms and two baths with around 1,900 square feet, Whitaker’s presentation showed.
Each of the units would have two-car garages, most rear-loading, with a two-car driveway. The development is also expected to have 37 other visitor parking spots throughout the site, according to Morgan.
Inside, the units would feature “modern accouterments” and energy efficient systems, Whitaker said.
Ald. Mike Saville, 6th Ward, was concerned about the lack of open space on the property. There is a park nearby to the south, Whitaker noted, but he also promised to have more of a response next meeting, and city staff said they’d look into it.