City of Aurora Planning Commission met Aug. 7.
Here is the minutes provided by the commission:
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Pilmer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
The following Commission members were present: Chairman Pilmer, Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Duncan, Mr. Elsbree, Mr. Gonzales, Mrs. Head, Mr. Hull, Mrs. Owusu-Safo, Mr. Reynolds and Ms. Tidwell.
OTHERS PRESENT
The following staff members were present: Mr. Sieben, Mrs. Morgan, Mr. Broadwell and Mrs. Jackson.
Others Present: Russ Whitaker (Rosanova & Whitaker), Matt Brolley (Pulte Homes), Dwayne Gillian (V3 Companies), and Jake Vorberg (Perfect Home Services).
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
19-0681 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Commission meeting on July 17, 2019.
A motion was made by Mr. Elsbree, seconded by Mrs. Anderson, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Chairman Pilmer said if you are here for an item that does not appear on the agenda and you wish to speak to the Commission, we can give you 3 minutes to do so.
No one came forward.
AGENDA
19-0580 A Resolution Approving the Final Plat for Meadow Ridge Subdivision, being Vacant Land located at the southwest corner of Meadowridge Drive and 75th Street, and Granting the Developer the Authority to Install the Contemplated Utilities (Pulte Home Company, LLC - 19-0580 / NA28/3-19.100-Fsd/Fpn - JM - Ward 8)
A motion was made by Ms. Tidwell, seconded by Mr. Cameron, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Building, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee, on the agenda for 8/21/2019. The motion carried.
19-0581 A Resolution Approving a Final Plan on Lots 1-21 of Meadow Ridge Subdivision, located at the southwest corner of Meadowridge Drive and 75th Street, for a ROW Dwelling (Party Wall) (1130) Use (Pulte Home Company, LLC - 19-0581 / NA28/3-19.100-Fsd/Fpn - JM - Ward 8)
A motion was made by Mr. Chambers, seconded by Mr. Hull, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Building, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee, on the agenda for 8/14/2019. The motion carried.
Mrs. Morgan said you might recall that this came before the Commission for the Preliminary only about a month ago, so they are coming back in for the Final Plat and Plan. The layout is the same as what you saw in the Preliminary. This is for 18 buildings, 80 units. You will enter off of Meadowridge Drive, a road that kind of circles around the development. To the north, the townhomes are setback 40 feet to provide some buffer to the 75th Street major road. The ones to the east overlook the detention pond and the homes to the south overlook a park. These are all front loaded homes. We have a 25 foot front yard setback to give the people a 25 foot driveway. They meet all the separation requirements, and setback requirements. The maximum dwelling units per acre that’s allowed in the Plan Description, they are under that maximum. The only thing different coming before you for this would be the elevations and the landscape plan. I’ll talk about the landscape plan first. The landscape plan features some buffering to the north and the west. They have a fence along those perimeters buffering 75th Street and kind of a commercial complex to the west. They have a mixture of canopy trees and evergreen trees to provide some additional buffering. At the entrance and at the corner of 75th Street and Meadowridge Drive they have some nice landscaping with some beds of shrubs and also using the trees in those locations to provide some focal points. I’ll bring up the elevations just to show you those. They are your basic townhome that you see kind of throughout the area, traditional looking, which is what when we first met with Pulte that staff had to kind of asked as what we were looking for. As you can see, around the garages and on the first story you have some brick and then above that you have a mixture of cladding of horizontal and vertical siding. There is also some variation of the roofline through those projecting gables, as well as a mixture of the shed dormers and gable dormers. That’s the basic elevation. If you also recall, these have the option to have a habitable attic as well as a sunroom addition option. Here is the rear elevation with the additional area in the attic space so you can see what that looks like. Then here is the sunroom. You can see how it kind of projects a little bit past the existing elevation. Then this is what it would look like from the rear if they added that additional sunroom option. The only other item the Final Plat. This is just subdividing the lot. To note, this is also allowing Pulte, the developers, to install utilities. They are proposing to connect their utilities to the existing utilities to the east. The Plat that approved that subdivision allows the city, it is a blanket city easement, to go in and install utilities. The city, through this Final Plat, is granting that ability to install to the Pulte developers. This will go all the way through City Council approval with the addition of allowing the developers to install the utilities on behalf of the city. I can bring up the developers and see if you have any questions for them.
Good evening. I’m Russ Whitaker. I’m an attorney at the law firm of Rosanova and Whitaker, 127 Aurora Avenue. As Jill said, we were before you a month or two months ago with the Preliminary Plan. Everything that you have before you is consistent with the Preliminary Plan that we worked through last time. I know we didn’t have elevations up for formal approval last time, but we did work through those elevations last time, provided some overview on the option for the sunroom addition off the back and then also the option for the habitable attic space, which was a little bit unique. We think the townhome elevations have been upgraded from the start of the project. We did that in consultation with city staff. The first floor masonry, the variety of building materials that have been incorporated, the vertical siding, the board and baton is something that is very popular in the market today. If you watch the home improvement shows and you can’t get away from it. It is sort of a modern, very sort of on trend with the market today, a version of a two story townhome and creating some unique elements, of course, with that habitable attic space. It is not a cheap option, but it will get you some additional square footage and a third story. It creates a very unique, interesting space that you certainly aren’t going to see in older townhomes in Aurora or frankly in the Naperville area. We’re excited about the project. Our intent is to get moving as quickly as possible. We are already under construction on Laurelton, which is the other one that you’ve seen recently, so we are moving there already. The intent is that if this moves forward we would be moving dirt on this project in September with the intent to have a February opening of this project. Just, I guess, a couple of other details. The units are a 1,854 square foot base before you’d either add on the sunroom or the habitable attic option. It is the standard 3 bedroom 21⁄2 bath, 2 car garage, parking spaces or sufficient room for parking spaces in the front of the units. It is slab construction. Base pricing, the units will start at $285,000, but that is before all of the options. We would expect an average sales price on these units in the mid $300,000 range. There are 80 units. With that, I’d be happy to answer any other questions you might have.
Mr. Cameron said on the attic option, will the two dormer windows then become usable and active?
Mr. Whitaker said they don’t. It is really just the back portion of the building. Those dormers on the front of the space are really just part of an architectural ornamentation that we provided.
Mrs. Morgan said to note on the recommendations, there were originally 4. The Petitioner has subsequently resubmitted meeting the Planning conditions, the first 3 items, so the only condition staff recommends retaining is that all comments of the Engineering Division be addressed prior to the approval of Final Engineering.
Mrs. Morgan said on the Final Plat, staff would recommend approval of a Resolution approving the Final Plat for Meadow Ridge Subdivision, being vacant land located at the southwest corner of Meadowridge Drive and 75th Street and granting the developer the authority to install the contemplated utilities.
MOTION OF APPROVAL WAS MADE BY: Ms. Tidwell
MOTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Cameron
AYES: Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Duncan, Mr. Elsbree, Mr. Gonzales, Mrs. Head, Mr. Hull, Mrs. Owusu-Safo, Mr. Reynolds, Ms. Tidwell
NAYS: None
Mrs. Morgan said this will next be heard at the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, August 14, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
Mrs. Morgan said for the Final Plan, staff would recommend conditional approval of a Resolution approving a Final Plan on Lots 1-21 of Meadow Ridge Subdivision, located at the southwest corner of Meadowridge Drive and 75th Street for a ROW Dwelling (Party Wall) (1130) Use with the following condition:
1. That all the comments of the Engineering Division be addressed prior to approval of the Final Engineering.
MOTION OF CONDITIONAL APPROVAL WAS MADE BY: Mr. Chambers
MOTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Hull
AYES: Mr. Anderson, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Duncan, Mr. Elsbree, Mr. Gonzales, Mrs. Head, Mr. Hull, Mrs. Owusu-Safo, Mr. Reynolds, Ms. Tidwell
NAYS: None
Mrs. Morgan said this will next be heard at the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, August 14, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
19-0637 A Building, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee Resolution Approving a Revision to the Final Plan on Lot 11 for Unit 1 of the Fox Valley East, Region I Subdivision, Located at 4341 Fox Valley Center Drive, for a Business and Professional Office (2400) Use (Perfect Home Services - 19-0637 / NA21/4-18.170-Fpn/R - SB - Ward 10)
Mr. Broadwell said the Petitioner, Perfect Home Services, is requesting approval of this Final Plan Revision for a Business and Professional Office use. Essentially what we are seeing here today is that they will be enclosing the building’s drive-thru for work vehicle parking. You can see that in the elevations. They also provided a Final/Landscape Plan, which is showing that they will be bringing the property up to code per the Aurora Zoning Ordinance. So a little bit of background, again, this is
near the Fox Valley Mall. It is an existing one story commercial building. I believe it used to be a bank with a drive-thru. They will be enclosing the drive-thru. The building itself is one story and approximately 3,300 square feet. You can see more in your Property Research Sheet. I don’t know if there are any questions for staff, but we do have a representative from Perfect Homes Services here.
My name is Jake Vorberg. I’m a representative of Perfect Home Services for the address of 4341 Fox Valley Center Drive, Aurora, Illinois. Perfect Home Services has been around for about 27 years. We are a heating, cooling and plumbing company. We were recently in Lisle and then we actually moved to Aurora primarily because we wanted to be closer to Naperville, as well as Aurora because there are such huge opportunities for us business-wise.
Mr. Cameron said will there be any outside storage of any kind on that site?
Mr. Vorberg said no. Everything is going to be inside.
Mrs. Owusu-Safo said are you proposing to do anything aesthetically to the outside of the building?
Mr. Vorberg said I think we trying to, I guess, modernize the side a little bit. We are going to be putting up signs.
Mr. Broadwell said like I said, they did provide a landscape plan to bring it up because we found that when we were reviewing the site that it was a little bit short on the landscaping requirements. The exterior of the building right now is brick, which is consistent with the existing building. The drive-thru will be brick that is. Then like we just heard, I believe there will be ground signs at some point.
Mr. Vorberg said there is stucco all around it. We are going to try to update that. I’m not sure what we are going to be doing with the brick, possibly brightening it up somehow. I’m not exactly sure what the plan is with that, but it is definitely going to be a lot different than what we have right now.
Mr. Broadwell said in addition to that, the building has been vacant for a few years, so they are obviously putting a successful business in there and bringing it to Aurora. I do think they’ve done a really good job with the landscape plan.
Mr. Gonzales said is this location going to have, is it retail or is it just contractors who are coming in?
Mr. Vorberg said it’s primarily going to be us. I think at a certain point we are going to have people who are driving by and coming in to see if they can get a discounted tune-up for instance. For the most part, it is mainly going to be office space for employees of Perfect Home Services.
Mr. Broadwell said staff would recommend approval of the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee Resolution approving a Revision to the Final Plan on Lot 11 for Unit 1 of the Fox Valley East, Region I Subdivision, located at 4341 Fox Valley Center Drive for a Business and Professional Office use.
MOTION OF APPROVAL WAS MADE BY: Mr. Cameron
MOTION SECONDED BY: Ms. Tidwell
AYES: Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Divine, Mrs. Duncan, Mr. Elsbree, Mr. Gonzales, Mrs. Head, Mr. Hull, Mrs. Owusu-Safo, Mr. Reynolds, Ms. Tidwell
NAYS: None
Mr. Broadwell said this will next be heard at the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, August 14, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. on the fifth floor of this building.
A motion was made by Mr. Cameron, seconded by Ms. Tidwell, that this agenda item be Forwarded to the Building, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee, on the agenda for 8/14/2019. The motion carried.
PENDING
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A) Amendments
B) Grant and Award Research C) Comprehensive Plan
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mr. Sieben said I just wanted to announce that we will not have a Planning Commission meeting in 2 weeks on August 21, so that meeting will be cancelled. The next meeting would be the first one in September.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Ms. Tidwell, seconded by Mr. Elsbree, that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried by voice vote. Chairman Pilmer adjourned the meeting at 7:22 p.m.
https://www.aurora-il.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08072019-1931
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