More than 150 years after Elgin was founded as a way station on the trail west toward Galena, the city is poised for its own brand of westward expansion.
Elgin leaders believe their city’s manifest destiny entails high-priced homes replacing the corn and soybean fields west of Randall Road.
Eventually, the city plans to annex 11,000 acres of unincorporated Kane County–an area one-third as big as Elgin today. The city’s population, about 87,000, is projected to top 142,000 by 2020.
As the city fine-tunes its vision, it has placed at least three major housing proposals on hold while its planners establish guidelines for growth in an area they refer to as Elgin’s far west.
But the moratorium might not last much longer. Soon, Elgin’s Planning and Development Commission intends to issue its recommendation to the City Council, which will make the final decision on the development standards.
“There are upscale homes both north and south of us,” said George Wolff, chairman of the Elgin planning board. “We see no reason why it shouldn’t happen in Elgin.”
The new sections of Elgin would be considerably wealthier than other parts of the city, according to the draft plan. The minimum value of new homes in the far-west area would be $325,000. Homes sold in Elgin during the second quarter of this year went for an average of $131,000.
In drafting the plan, the biggest challenge city officials said they faced was finding a balance between growth and preserving the area’s natural, rural feel.
No more than four homes would be built on an acre. Earlier versions of the plan allowed more homes, but many people who live in the area expressed concerns about high-density development.
Activists with the West Elgin Citizens Alliance for Responsible Expansion, or WeCare, also said they feared that the new construction would overburden taxpayers and taxing districts.
The plan sets aside land for roads, schools and parks. Fees will be assessed so that new development pays for schools, libraries, parks, roads and other improvements directly related to growth.
“We want to make sure that new development pays for the cost of improvements that new development demands,” said Elgin’s principal planner, Tom Armstrong. “That burden should not be placed on existing taxpayers.”
One of the housing proposals, Bowes Creek Estates, would develop 607 acres on Bowes Road west of Randall. It stalled in the face of criticism from WeCare activists. The Bowes Creek plan will re-emerge for further consideration once the overall plan for the far-west area is in place.
The two other major projects have not yet been formally presented to city officials, pending the outcome of the planning process. The project developers are Pulte Homes Corp. of Hoffman Estates and Town & Country Homes of Westchester.
Pulte plans the Kendall Farms subdivision on 160 acres it owns west of Randall between Bowes and Hopps Road. Peter Tremulis, a Pulte vice president, said the homes and the natural surroundings will complement each other.
Pulte officials also have lobbied for a new high school in the far-west area.
Town & Country Homes will present a proposal for 520 acres in the far-west section.
