The Naperville City Council is giving a developer and a local conservation group an opportunity to work out their differences on how a forested site should be developed before the 21-home project is voted on.
The development called Caroline Woods, formerly Woods of Walnut Ridge, includes 11 acres on the east side of Keim Road between Shimer Court and University Drive.
The project became controversial among neighbors and other interested parties because the site, previously owned by Naperville School District 203, had been leased by the Park District and used as a park with paths through the forest for years.
Neighbors want the land to remain undeveloped, however, their efforts to buy it from the school district for $3.8 million, which included financial contributions from the Will County Forest Preserve District and the Naperville Park District, failed earlier this year. Instead, the school district opted for a higher bid of $5.6 million from a local developer.
The developer contends it will keep as many of the mature trees as possible and outlined an extensive tree preservation plan that would come under the management of the development’s future homeowners association.
But representatives of the Naperville-based Conservation Foundation want the developer to tweak the project in order to preserve more of the wooded land.
The Naperville Plan Commission voted for the project because of a pre-existing annexation agreement with Naperville School District 203 stating if the land were not going to be used for a school, then it should be developed for residential use.
The issue is expected to come back to the council in two weeks.
