City of Aurora Planning Council met July 16.
Here is the agenda provided by the council:
CALL TO ORDER
Mr. Sieben called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.
ROLL CALL
The following members were present: Mr. Sieben, Mrs. Vacek, Mrs. Morgan, Mr. Broadwell, Mr. Sodaro, Mr. Minnella, Mr. Dick, Mr. Phipps, Mr. Beneke and Mr. Hughes.
OTHERS PRESENT
Others Present: Alderman Smith (Ward 8), Matt Brolley (Pulte Homes), Russ Whitaker (Rosanova & Whitaker), Dwayne Gillian (V3 Companies) and Peter Wagenmaker (V3 Companies).
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
19-0614 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Council meeting on May 28, 2019.
A motion was made by Mrs. Vacek, seconded by Mr. Minnella, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried by voice vote.
19-0615 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Council meeting on June 4, 2019.
A motion was made by Mrs. Vacek, seconded by Mr. Minnella, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried by voice vote.
19-0616 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Council meeting on June 11, 2019.
A motion was made by Mrs. Vacek, seconded by Mr. Minnella, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried by voice vote.
19-0617 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Council meeting on June 25, 2019.
A motion was made by Mrs. Vacek, seconded by Mr. Minnella, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried by voice vote.
19-0618 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Council meeting on July 2, 2019.
A motion was made by Mrs. Vacek, seconded by Mr. Minnella, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried by voice vote.
19-0619 Approval of the Minutes for the Planning Council meeting on July 9, 2019.
A motion was made by Mrs. Vacek, seconded by Mr. Minnella, that the minutes be approved and filed. The motion carried by voice vote.
PUBLIC COMMENT
AGENDA
19-0580 Requesting approval of a Final Plat for Lots 1-21 of Meadow Ridge Subdivision located at the southwest corner of Meadowridge Drive and 75th Street (Pulte Home Company, LLC - 19-0580 / NA28/3-19.100-FSD/FPN - JM - Ward 8)
Mr. Sieben said this went through the rezoning about a month or so again and included approval of the Preliminary. I believe this is identical to the Preliminary.
Representatives Present: Matt Brolley, Russ Whitaker, Dwayne Gillian and Peter Wagenmaker
Mr. Brolley said this is 11.34 acres, 80 units. I think exactly the same, or substantially similar, to what we had proposed in preliminary.
Mr. Sieben said do you want to touch on elevations and then we can circle back?
Mr. Brolley said this is a townhome product that we are using here. The cool feature that we talked about in preliminary is that it has a habitable attic of 400 square feet. That is an option for folks. You can’t see it from the front elevation, but there is a porch on the back of the facility if someone wants to choose that.
Mr. Whitaker said if you go back a slide, you can actually see it on that view there. The change in the elevations and the roof pitch is actually very, very minimal. There are examples in Woodridge and in Naperville of this being built.
Mr. Sieben said it is kind of a unique feature that we haven’t seen really in the market before.
Mr. Whitaker said it’s been popular, especially the younger demographic. Mr. Sieben said we really didn’t get into the site plan.
I’m Russ Whitaker with Rosanova and Whitaker. I’m here this morning on behalf of Pulte. We are here for a Final Plat on Meadow Ridge. As you can see here, 18 townhome buildings. This is a 2 story product. We went through the Preliminary Plat process recently. It was approved. We’re not making any changes to the plans at this point in time, so the Final Plan is in substantial conformance with the Preliminary. I think really the open item on this one should be elevation approval at this point in time and just really down on Engineering details.
Mr. Sieben said what are you envisioning for the starting price point and things like that?
Mr. Brolley said so the base price would be $285,000. The average sales price we are hoping for is $340,000. We are going to, hopefully if everything goes well, start construction this September in 2 months with our model grand opening in early 2020.
Mr. Sieben said and your square footage range is from approximately.
Mr. Brolley said it is about 1,800 square feet. If they take the 400 square foot attic it is a little bit more.
Mr. Whitaker said there would also be a sunroom option off the back, so there’s really 2 basic foundational options that could be selected. The sunroom is actually depicted on the site plan here. You can see the small square coming off the back of the unit, so that would be a sunroom option that is also a popular option.
Mr. Brolley said and I want to say there are 4 units in the middle pod there that cannot have the sunroom option due to the setbacks, but that would be the only ones that are restricted. Everything else it would fit. I did see the e-mail yesterday from the Fire Department that reviewed the access for this and I didn’t have any comments.
Mr. Beneke said we are good with it.
Mr. Sieben said Jill Morgan is the Planner on this.
Mrs. Morgan said I am in review. I hoping to get comments out tomorrow. We are tentatively looking at August 7th. Engineering is also in review. We don’t, with this going through Preliminary, see any major issues, but I just want to make sure everyone has a chance to look at it before we set that. It is not a public hearing, so obviously no public notice.
Mr. Brolley said is it Mary Garza reviewing the engineering?
Mr. Phipps said it looks like it is going to be Souts. Mary is going on vacation and we wanted to make sure that we got the review done this week and hopefully get the review comments out to you next week.
Mr. Brolley said and then we are, I should state just for the record, the parcel to the south of us is owned by the Fox Valley Park District, so we are talking with them about some transitional grading between our site to theirs. At this point they are agreeable to that. We drew up a temporary grading easement that they made some comments on and we will be getting back to them.
Alderman Smith said I’m your Alderman for the 8th Ward and I want to let you guys know that I’m here to help you with whatever I need to do. If there is anything that you need from me just reach out to me. I just wanted to be here this morning to make sure everything was going smoothly for you and to let you know you have my support.
Mr. Whitaker said thank you.
Mrs. Morgan said when do you think you are going to submit the Master Plan for Building and Permits?
Mr. Brolley said I don’t have our schedule.
Mrs. Morgan said just know that it is concurrent and you can submit whenever you are ready.
Mr. Brolley said I’ll do that.
Mr. Gillian said when we get the initial round of comments, would that be the right time or any time after that?
Mrs. Morgan said yes, I’d maybe wait and make sure there is nothing major that was changed.
Mr. Sieben said I think we worked everything out with the Preliminary.
Mrs. Morgan said just in case there might be some engineering, something that might change.
Mr. Whitaker said any changes at this point in time would be pretty detailed. Mr. Sieben said no issues with outlots and who is cutting what.
Mr. Whitaker said nothing on this one. This is somehow easier than the other one that was already platted. It did take like year and a half to get to this point though.
Mr. Brolley said I’ve designed this a few different times.
Mr. Sieben said you don’t have to be back here. We’ll plan on, likely it will be the August 7th Planning Commission. Then you would go to the BZE Committee, I believe, the following week on Wednesday. That would be the 14th. Then it is appealable. If it is not appealed by the COW the next week you are then approved.
Mrs. Morgan said I guess the only other thing I will throw out, and our engineer is still looking at this, is if there is a need for off-site easements. That could be depending on if it is a current city easement or not in the language of that, whether we would need a separate approval for any off-site easements.
Mr. Whitaker said from the Board you’re saying.
Mrs. Morgan said yes, from City Council. If it is not a current easement that allows you to go on we kind of have to have a separate process for an off-site easement, which does have to go through a similar process. Engineering is looking at that.
Mrs. Vacek said and that would only be for like if it was like a city easement. Like when you are talking with the Fox Valley Park District, that’s just between you two so that we would not need to look at.
Mr. Brolley said and that would mainly be of the sanitary?
Mr. Gillian said we need to check into that if you haven’t already. There is a blanket easement on the other side of the street.
Mr. Whitaker said I thought we had moved the sanitary into the right-of-way. Mr. Gillian said no, it is right there.
Mr. Brolley said we moved the water into the right-of-way.
Mr. Phipps said there is a blanket easement there, but we wanted to make sure that they check to see whether that blanket easement allowed for a city permitee to construct the new sanitary sewer there.
Mr. Brolley said it is a little different because it is not your standard city easement. It is older.
Mr. Sieben said is that into the McCarty office? Is that where that is?
Mr. Brolley said yes. If not, there is a more troublesome connection that we can make in Meadow Ridge Drive.
Mr. Gillian said I think that water main connection to the north should be on a city easement though too, up along 75th Street. It is in the same subdivision.
Mr. Brolley said I’m hoping it is in the right-of-way.
Mr. Gillian said I don’t think it is actually, but it is the same subdivision with the same language.
Mr. Sieben said so just to be aware of that.
19-0581 Requesting approval of a Final Plan for 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).
Mr. Sieben said this went through the rezoning about a month or so again and included approval of the Preliminary. I believe this is identical to the Preliminary.
Representatives Present: Matt Brolley, Russ Whitaker, Dwayne Gillian and Peter Wagenmaker
Mr. Brolley said this is 11.34 acres, 80 units. I think exactly the same, or substantially similar, to what we had proposed in preliminary.
Mr. Sieben said do you want to touch on elevations and then we can circle back?
Mr. Brolley said this is a townhome product that we are using here. The cool feature that we talked about in preliminary is that it has a habitable attic of 400 square feet. That is an option for folks. You can’t see it from the front elevation, but there is a porch on the back of the facility if someone wants to choose that.
Mr. Whitaker said if you go back a slide, you can actually see it on that view there. The change in the elevations and the roof pitch is actually very, very minimal. There are examples in Woodridge and in Naperville of this being built.
Mr. Sieben said it is kind of a unique feature that we haven’t seen really in the market before.
Mr. Whitaker said it’s been popular, especially the younger demographic. Mr. Sieben said we really didn’t get into the site plan.
I’m Russ Whitaker with Rosanova and Whitaker. I’m here this morning on behalf of Pulte. We are here for a Final Plat on Meadow Ridge. As you can see here, 18 townhome buildings. This is a 2 story product. We went through the Preliminary Plat process recently. It was approved. We’re not making any changes to the plans at this point in time, so the Final Plan is in substantial conformance with the Preliminary. I think really the open item on this one should be elevation approval at this point in time and just really down on Engineering details.
Mr. Sieben said what are you envisioning for the starting price point and things like that?
Mr. Brolley said so the base price would be $285,000. The average sales price we are hoping for is $340,000. We are going to, hopefully if everything goes well, start construction this September in 2 months with our model grand opening in early 2020.
Mr. Sieben said and your square footage range is from approximately.
Mr. Brolley said it is about 1,800 square feet. If they take the 400 square foot attic it is a little bit more.
Mr. Whitaker said there would also be a sunroom option off the back, so there’s really 2 basic foundational options that could be selected. The sunroom is actually depicted on the site plan here. You can see the small square coming off the back of the unit, so that would be a sunroom option that is also a popular option.
Mr. Brolley said and I want to say there are 4 units in the middle pod there that cannot have the sunroom option due to the setbacks, but that would be the only ones that are restricted. Everything else it would fit. I did see the e-mail yesterday from the Fire Department that reviewed the access for this and I didn’t have any comments.
Mr. Beneke said we are good with it.
Mr. Sieben said Jill Morgan is the Planner on this.
Mrs. Morgan said I am in review. I hoping to get comments out tomorrow. We are tentatively looking at August 7th. Engineering is also in review. We don’t, with this going through Preliminary, see any major issues, but I just want to make sure everyone has a chance to look at it before we set that. It is not a public hearing, so obviously no public notice.
Mr. Brolley said is it Mary Garza reviewing the engineering?
Mr. Phipps said it looks like it is going to be Souts. Mary is going on vacation and we wanted to make sure that we got the review done this week and hopefully get the review comments out to you next week.
Mr. Brolley said and then we are, I should state just for the record, the parcel to the south of us is owned by the Fox Valley Park District, so we are talking with them about some transitional grading between our site to theirs. At this point they are agreeable to that. We drew up a temporary grading easement that they made some comments on and we will be getting back to them.
Alderman Smith said I’m your Alderman for the 8th Ward and I want to let you guys know that I’m here to help you with whatever I need to do. If there is anything that you need from me just reach out to me. I just wanted to be here this morning to make sure everything was going smoothly for you and to let you know you have my support.
Mr. Whitaker said thank you.
Mrs. Morgan said when do you think you are going to submit the Master Plan for Building and Permits?
Mr. Brolley said I don’t have our schedule.
Mrs. Morgan said just know that it is concurrent and you can submit whenever you are ready.
Mr. Brolley said I’ll do that.
Mr. Gillian said when we get the initial round of comments, would that be the right time or any time after that?
Mrs. Morgan said yes, I’d maybe wait and make sure there is nothing major that was changed.
Mr. Sieben said I think we worked everything out with the Preliminary.
Mrs. Morgan said just in case there might be some engineering, something that might change.
Mr. Whitaker said any changes at this point in time would be pretty detailed. Mr. Sieben said no issues with outlots and who is cutting what.
Mr. Whitaker said nothing on this one. This is somehow easier than the other one that was already platted. It did take like year and a half to get to this point though.
Mr. Brolley said I’ve designed this a few different times.
Mr. Sieben said you don’t have to be back here. We’ll plan on, likely it will be the August 7th Planning Commission. Then you would go to the BZE Committee, I believe, the following week on Wednesday. That would be the 14th. Then it is appealable. If it is not appealed by the COW the next week you are then approved.
Mrs. Morgan said I guess the only other thing I will throw out, and our engineer is still looking at this, is if there is a need for off-site easements. That could be depending on if it is a current city easement or not in the language of that, whether we would need a separate approval for any off-site easements.
Mr. Whitaker said from the Board you’re saying.
Mrs. Morgan said yes, from City Council. If it is not a current easement that allows you to go on we kind of have to have a separate process for an off-site easement, which does have to go through a similar process. Engineering is looking at that.
Mrs. Vacek said and that would only be for like if it was like a city easement. Like when you are talking with the Fox Valley Park District, that’s just between you two so that we would not need to look at.
Mr. Brolley said and that would mainly be of the sanitary?
Mr. Gillian said we need to check into that if you haven’t already. There is a blanket easement on the other side of the street.
Mr. Whitaker said I thought we had moved the sanitary into the right-of-way. Mr. Gillian said no, it is right there.
Mr. Brolley said we moved the water into the right-of-way.
Mr. Phipps said there is a blanket easement there, but we wanted to make sure that they check to see whether that blanket easement allowed for a city permitee to construct the new sanitary sewer there.
Mr. Brolley said it is a little different because it is not your standard city easement. It is older.
Mr. Sieben said is that into the McCarty office? Is that where that is?
Mr. Brolley said yes. If not, there is a more troublesome connection that we can make in Meadow Ridge Drive.
Mr. Gillian said I think that water main connection to the north should be on a city easement though too, up along 75th Street. It is in the same subdivision.
Mr. Brolley said I’m hoping it is in the right-of-way.
Mr. Gillian said I don’t think it is actually, but it is the same subdivision with the same language.
Mr. Sieben said so just to be aware of that.
PENDING
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Sieben adjourned the meeting at 10:16 a.m.
https://www.aurora-il.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_07162019-1912
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