An Aurora City Council committee has approved final plans for the Habitat for Humanity Green Freedom subdivision on the city’s far West Side.
The subdivision will include 17 Habitat for Humanity homes of between 1,500 and 1,700 square feet on an 8.5-acre site between Lindenwood Avenue and Jericho Road. The homes would be built along Garden Avenue, which would extend from Garden Road and Lindenwood Avenue in unincorporated Aurora Township, to Jericho Road.
Aldermen on the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday approved the final plat and plan for the subdivision. The committee has final approval for the subdivision, although it can be appealed by any City Council member.
The subdivision plans meet city of Aurora standards and require no zoning change, according to Steve Broadwell, a city of Aurora planner.
It has received a lot of attention because it will be a “smart neighborhood,” the first affordable, net zero subdivision in the country, developers said.
It’s also a rare partnership between utilities – gas and electric – to create the net zero element of the housing, meaning the subdivision will use only as much energy, overall, as it generates. It is a carbon neutral situation that can be achieved by combining natural gas and electric resources, officials have said.
It’s a first for Habitat for Humanity, too, which traditionally has built houses one at a time, not an entire subdivision at once.
At the committee meeting, though, the “smart neighborhood” elements of the Habitat subdivision were not the topic. Rather, it was more traditional development issues such as traffic and drainage in the area, as well as the location of a water main for the subdivision, which were discussed.
The Habitat Green Freedom development is being built next door to the unincorporated Westway Subdivision, and residents there were particularly concerned about the Habitat plan showing a water main along Lindenwood Avenue that would loop to Jericho Road.
Jason Owens, Aurora Township highway commissioner, told aldermen on the committee that he has the “sole authority” to approve that water main location if it’s along Lindenwood Avenue, a township road, and he would not approve it.
“Residents have asked that I do not grant that,” he said.
City officials said while the current plan shows that as the location for the water main, it is being discussed between the township and city legal officials.
“This is being handled in the Law Department,” said Patrick Collins, an assistant corporation counsel for the city.
Alex Alexandrou, the city’s chief management officer, said while the final location of the water main is not decided, it should not hold up the development plans.
“We have other options,” he said. “If at the end of the day, we have to go to Plan B, we’ll go to Plan B.”
City officials also said they have a traffic study that shows the subdivision will have minimal traffic impact on the area.
slord@tribpub.com
