Fate of proposed apartment building in downtown St. Charles up in the air
The fate of a proposed apartment building near the Fox River in St. Charles is up in the air because of the lack of support for vacating Indiana Avenue as part of the project.
St. Charles City Council members on the planning and development committee voted 5-3 to recommend approval of the planned use development and preliminary plans for the River East Lofts project. But a straw poll taken at the meeting indicates that the proposed vacation of Indiana Avenue lacks the supermajority it would need to move forward.
Vacating Indiana Avenue is a key part of the project.
Voting "yes" were the 3rd Ward's Paul Lencioni, the 5th Ward's Ed Bessner, the 1st Ward's Bill Kalamaris, the 2nd Ward's Rita Payleitner and the 3rd Ward's Todd Bancroft.
Voting "no" were 4th Ward's David Pietryla and Bryan Wirball and the 1st Ward's Ron Silkaitis.
The 2nd Ward's Ryan Bongard abstained from voting. As chairman of the planning and development committee, the 5th Ward's Steve Weber did not vote.
The plans were scaled back after neighbors voiced concerns about the building's height.
The newly revised plan for the River East Lofts project calls for reducing the building from 5 stories to 4 stories. The project is proposed for the southeast corner of Illinois and Riverside avenues on the site of the former St. Charles Chamber of Commerce building.
Previous plans had called for the building to be 59 feet, 8 inches tall. The zoning district for the area allows a maximum building height of 50 feet.
The current plans show the building would be a maximum of 50 feet tall, so the developer is no longer requesting a variance from the city. The apartments would be located on the building's upper, floors while commercial and retail space would be on the first floor.
In addition, the number of units has been reduced from 43 to 42, and the unit mix has changed from 27 one-bedroom/16 two-bedroom units to 12 one-bedroom/30 two-bedroom units. Revised architectural plans have been submitted.
Developer Curt Hurst and his son Conrad own Frontier Development, which has been involved in several projects in downtown St. Charles.
Wirball joined residents in opposing vacating Indiana Avenue as part of the project.
"For me, that needs to be city-owned so it gives the people that live over there peace of mind that nothing will be built on it," he said.
Silkaitis agreed.
"I don't think it benefits the city," he said. "It benefits the developer."
Curt Hurst previously said vacating Indiana Avenue "allows us to create a more cohesive open space experience than currently exists."
Bancroft said he thought Frontier Development "has gone above and beyond, in terms of spending time listening to residents' concerns."
Lencioni also spoke in favor of the project as a way to help independent businesses thrive.
"We have to have a reasonable amount of growth in this town for independent businesses to continue to do well and to keep the independent character of our town," he said.
Resident Martha Gass, who lives on South Third Avenue near the proposed development, said she was happy to see the plans scaled back. However, she also was against vacating Indiana Avenue as part of the project.
"The city should retain ownership of all the public land," she said. "Mr. Hurst should build on the property that he owns."
Plan commissioners last month unanimously recommended approval of the revised plans, with one commissioner abstaining because of a conflict.