St. Charles has turned down a proposal that would have seen 970 acres of the rural La Fox community annexed into the city for a large residential development.
Officials announced on Friday that the city has declined to further review the plan for Charles Farm, which was proposed by the national developer Pulte Homes and saw significant opposition from area residents, organizations, businesses and other local governments early in the planning process.
A company spokesperson presented a concept plan for the development at a St. Charles Plan Commission meeting on Sept. 4, which was attended by a large number of area residents, many of whom spoke in opposition to the proposal.
After receiving input from the Plan Commission and City Council, reviewing the concept plan and considering all the feedback the city had received about the plan, St. Charles Mayor Lora Vitek informed Pulte Homes that the city had no interest in continuing further with the review of the plan, a news release from the city said.
Vitek thanked Pulte Homes for presenting the plan and said that she believes in encouraging the public discussion of ideas as they are presented, according to the release.
“We heard the feedback from residents and officials in nearby communities and their concerns and opinions were considered carefully,” Vitek said in the release.
The city is currently focused on other ongoing developments and “exciting opportunities,” so it would have been difficult to dedicate “the extensive amount of resources needed to make this project successful,” she said in the release.
Although St. Charles will not be moving forward with the project, Vitek said in the release that the proposal has been a “valuable process for the city and our neighbors to reengage and understand the community interest today.”
The release said that St. Charles is committed to working with all of its surrounding communities and government partners to make sure that any future development of the property where the project was proposed fits the character of Kane County.
Around 30 area residents spoke against the project during the Plan Commission meeting on Sept. 4, particularly because of the development’s density, which many speakers said was not in line with the rural character of the unincorporated La Fox community.
Residents also were concerned about the potential traffic, public health and environmental impacts of the development, along with a number of other concerns.
The concept plan presented at that meeting showed dense areas of residential development with over 2,000 units, roughly half of which would be within a Del Webb active adult community, and 15 acres of commercial development with 40% of the land set aside as open space.
Owners of a number of local rural businesses, including Heritage Prairie Farm, Rustic Road Farm and Weathered Ways Farm, said at the meeting and in letters that the development would have a significant and negative impact on their businesses, particularly because of the area’s loss of rural character.
“Your entire community will watch as this development obliterates some of the most gorgeous land this county has to offer, and with it, the agritourism farms enjoyed by so many in St. Charles and the surrounding communities,” Ashley Keller, owner of Weathered Ways Farm, said at the meeting.
Organizations such as the historic Garfield Farm Museum and the La Fox Civic Association wrote letters and sent representatives to the Sept. 4 meeting in opposition to the project, saying that the development would harm efforts by organizations and local governments to preserve the area’s history and open space.
Similarly, a letter from the Kane County Historic Preservation Commission said that “approving Pulte Homes’ request to annex to St. Charles is an approval to overpower and perhaps destroy a preserved part of the county’s history that residents, commissioners and planning staff have worked for years to protect.”
Another letter from Kane County, this one signed by a number of County Board members, said the proposed development “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.”
That letter also urged St. Charles to reject the proposal so the county “can continue to work on a plan with the developer and the LaFox and Mill Creek communities, that preserves open space, the Mill Creek greenway and provides appropriate buffers between communities.”
Area residents are not totally opposed to development of the 970-acre stretch of land, they are just opposed to the particular development proposed by Pulte Homes, according to Drew Frasz, president of the La Fox Civic Association.
He previously said that the association opposed a similar plan called Grand Prairie in the early 2000s, which was proposed by a different developer. That plan also would have annexed the property, which was larger at the time, into St. Charles to build a dense residential development.
The Grand Prairie development was denied by St. Charles after resident pushback, he said.
The La Fox Civic Association then worked with that developer to create the Settlements of La Fox plan, which was a compromise that better matched the area’s character with less density and without annexation, according to Frasz.
He said the Settlements plan was approved by the Kane County Board but never built because of the 2008 financial crisis.
Pulte Homes should scrap their current plan and start over again, this time with community input and without an annexation request, Frasz said at the Sept. 4 Plan Commission meeting.
“A reasonable, happy ending of a right-sized development is possible, but it does not go through St. Charles, with all due respect,” he said.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
