A developer is proposing to annex 970 acres in what is currently rural La Fox, an unincorporated community in Kane County, into the city of St. Charles to build a residential development with over 2,000 homes.
St. Charles is set to hold a review of the proposed concept plan at a Plan Commission meeting on Sept. 4, but no official vote will be taken at that meeting. Instead, the meeting will be used to start a conversation about the project among members of the commission and to give residents an opportunity to give feedback about the proposal, according to the city’s website.
The meeting is set for 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the St. Charles Municipal Center, 2 E. Main St.
La Fox community residents and organizations, including the Garfield Farm Museum and the La Fox Civic Association, are planning to speak against the proposal at the meeting. Leaders of those two organizations told The Beacon-News that the proposed development does not match the rural character of the area and would undermine efforts by their organizations and others to keep the area rustic.
“This is kind of a rural, farmette-type community,” said Drew Frasz, president of the La Fox Civic Association. “What they’re proposing is a suburban — a dense suburban — community that belongs inside a municipality, and we’re not that municipality.”
The development would be known as Charles Farm and is being proposed by Pulte Home Company, a national homebuilder.
According to St. Charles’ webpage about the proposal, the development would hold a Del Webb senior community with 967 single-family homes plus an amenity center, another 846 single-family homes, 198 townhomes and 15 acres of commercial development.
The proposed project area is generally bound by Route 38 to the north, Keslinger Road to the south, Harley Road to the west and Brundige Road to the east, but the project area makes up only certain portions of the land within that area, according to concept plans submitted with the company’s application.
St. Charles’ webpage on the proposal says that the development would have at least 40% of its land set aside as open space, including areas around Mill Creek.
According to a letter from Pulte Home’s attorney to the city, the goal is to preserve and protect the creek with significant setbacks. The company is also in talks to potentially dedicate the area around the creek to public ownership, the letter said.
The area was the site of a number of previous development proposals from the early 2000s, including Grand Prairie and Settlements of LaFox, neither of which were constructed.
The La Fox Civic Association was originally formed to oppose the Grand Prairie development and then worked together with the developer to develop the Settlements of LaFox proposal, which passed the Kane County Board but was never built because of the 2008 financial crisis, according to Frasz.
He said the association is again willing to work with this new developer on a compromise that would keep with the area’s character and development trend, but that it is totally opposed to the area’s annexation into St. Charles.
“We’ve never felt an emotional connection to St. Charles whatsoever,” Frasz said. “I think most people in St. Charles would have that same feeling. How does this connect to St. Charles? It really doesn’t.”
Jerome Johnson, executive director of the Garfield Farm Museum since 1981, said he is also opposed to the development because it would completely change the character of the area. He said that multiple organizations and governments have come together to ensure the area stays rural, and that the corridor La Fox sits in has almost 1,800 acres of open space that has been put together over the past 40 or 50 years.
“What’s happened here is rather unique and special, and this largely undermines it,” Johnson said about the proposed development.
The area also has a lot of history, which is protected by the museum as well as ordinances and programs put in place by Kane County, according to Johnson. He said the proposed annexation into St. Charles could hurt those county efforts.
A number of Kane County Board members are also opposed to the proposed development, according to a letter signed by board members Anita Lewis, Bill Lenert, Ron Ford, Leslie Juby, Michael Linder, Bill Roth, Mark Davoust, David Young, Deborah Allen and Rick Williams.
In the letter, the county board members urge the city of St. Charles, specifically Mayor Lora Vitek, to reject the proposal so that Kane County can work with the developer and surrounding communities on a plan that preserves open space and provides “appropriate buffers” between communities.
The letter also said that past proposals for the land by previous developers have been “consistent with the character and trend of development in the area, while maintaining the rural character of the LaFox area.”
Meanwhile, the currently proposed plan “is not a natural extension of the city of St. Charles’ boundaries, relies on questionable contiguity, interjects an urban style development in a rural area, and would negate 25 years of planning with the LaFox area residents who have championed smart growth initiatives for this area,” the letter said.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
