A homebuilder plans to construct two townhouse buildings on a property at 5S320 Fender Road. Courtesy of the village of Lisle
Lisle trustees have approved the annexation of a vacant property to allow for a residential development.
The village board also has signed off on scaled-back plans for a luxury townhouse community on the narrow site off Fender Road, a bit south of the Schmaltz Delicatessen restaurant along Ogden Avenue.
In response to concerns from neighbors regarding traffic and development density, Home Builders Group, the owner of the roughly 1.5-acre property at 5S320 Fender Road, reduced the number of proposed townhouses from 12 to eight, an attorney representing the developer recently told the village’s planning and zoning commission.
Last November, trustees remanded the proposal back to the commission to allow village staff, the homebuilder and concerned residents to discuss the development and come to a compromise, said Michael Smetana, Lisle’s development services director.
The homebuilder prepared a revised site plan that reduced the number of townhouse buildings from three to two — with four attached units within each building — and added two single-family detached houses that would front Sakeena Court.
In addition, the project is set to include enhanced buffering between the residential subdivision to the south and the existing townhouse development to the north.
“It’s substantially better than the first go-around,” commission Chair MaryLynn Zajdel said.
Commissioners ultimately voted 4-1 in February to recommend approval of the zoning requests for the Crescent Hill subdivision.
On Monday night, Lisle Trustee Michael Olson thanked the commission “for going back through and having additional hearings on this.”
“It can be a long process,” Olson said. “But I think it’s a good representation of elected officials, appointed officials, staff as well as the community, kind of hearing each other out and trying to find something that can be profitable for a property owner, but also listening to the concerns of neighbors.”
Some area residents previously raised concerns about neighborhood congestion, overflow parking and stormwater, among others. As proposed last year, the project had called for construction of 12 townhouses.
“We have the Tangley Oaks community. We have Bella Court. Adding 12 more homes, 24 more cars, that’s just adding even more density to that small section of Fender Road where that main exit is,” Jeff Goeden told village trustees in November.
No residents, however, spoke Monday during a public hearing regarding the annexation.
Trustees unanimously approved the annexation ordinance as well as a zoning map amendment and variances for the project.
