Residents of the Del Webb community in Aurora want to see developer Pulte Homes fix existing issues within the age-restricted neighborhood before moving forward with further construction.
That’s what many residents told a committee of the Aurora City Council and a packed audience at a meeting last week, where Pulte Homes was requesting the approval of final plans for a fourth phase of construction in the development with over 90 homes.
Currently at roughly 550 homes, the Del Webb community is already facing issues with landscaping, security and overburdened amenities, residents said during the meeting.
“We have not come here to invent problems, but are looking for solutions for the problems that currently exist,” said Lynn Nadler during the meeting’s public comment period. “The people here tonight represent the heart of our community. We are a community first, and a development project second.”
The lawyer representing Pulte Homes at the meeting, Russ Whitaker, said there are regular meetings with Del Webb’s homeowners association, and that’s where the developers would like to deal with the issues raised by residents. Pulte Homes currently controls the homeowners association, he said.
“I understand that we have residents living here, but this is also a development project,” Whitaker said. “We’re building homes, we’re also developing land, so it’s a little bit messy at this point in time.”
Aurora aldermen who sit on the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee appeared sympathetic to residents’ concerns at the Jan. 28 meeting. They asked many questions of Pulte representatives about the issues raised by residents and voted unanimously to delay approval of the plans so the developer could meet with residents to find a way to address the issues.
Located on the far southeast side of the city, the Lincoln Prairie Del Webb neighborhood has been under development for the last several years. It was first proposed in 2021, a ribbon cutting for the first phase was held the next year and plans for phase 4 were approved in 2024.
The low-maintenance ranch homes come in multiple styles ranging from two to three bedrooms and from around 1,500 to 2,750 square feet, officials have said. Designs include large kitchen islands, tall sliding glass doors, suites with spa-like baths and storage space.
The community is promoted as having “resort-style amenities,” including an 18,000-square-foot clubhouse with meeting spaces, billiard rooms, indoor and outdoor pools and outdoor recreational areas with tennis and pickleball courts.
In addition to the Lincoln Prairie Del Webb neighborhood, the development also includes Lincoln Crossing, which is a separate, smaller neighborhood of market-rate, single-family houses.
Zoning for the project, including the current phase, has already been approved, according to city Director of Zoning and Planning Tracey Vacek. That means the company is entitled to build on the land, she said at the Jan. 28 meeting, and so the committee is now just deciding if the current plans match with the property’s zoning.
As part of the original overall plan for the development, two portions of the site were set aside as “flex” areas — Pulte knew they wanted to build homes in these areas, but not what kind. Now, Pulte wants to expand the Del Webb neighborhood onto one of these areas, which is why the plans are now coming forward for approval.
“The plans before you tonight are entirely consistent with the vision that we had established with the city dating back to 2021,” Whitaker said at the Jan. 28 meeting. “I understand and appreciate everything the residents have said here tonight, but this has been the consistent vision for the ultimate build-out of the property.”
Residents’ concerns were generally broken into three categories by the public speakers: security, landscaping and amenities.
Past reporting calls the Del Webb neighborhood a “gated” community, but residents said that those gates are always open. As homebuyers, they were told that the main entry gate would be closed after a secondary access was completed — but now that it is done, all the gates remain open, Nadler said.
The gates are staying open, Whitaker said, because it is impractical to close them during construction as there are so many people coming and going.
Residents were also concerned about non-residents entering the community and using common areas and infrastructure, according to resident Suzi Smith. She said that, by not having “No Trespassing” signs at the entrance to the neighborhood, police are not able to enforce trespassing laws throughout common areas and infrastructure, except at the clubhouse and sports courts.
However, Vacek said that the neighborhood’s sidewalks are open to the public. And language in the original agreement, shown by Whitaker, said the gates are meant to give a sense of security, not to create exclusivity.
As for landscaping, resident Paula Helberg said established plans are not being followed, and said an independent arborist found the trees were not being planted as required. Plus, she said plans are not being followed for stormwater retention ponds around the site.
Whitaker said that Pulte has always been good on replacing landscaping, and that there are still many landscaping inspections to do, which is a normal part of development. As for the ponds, he said it is a multi-year process to get them to a place where they match the plans.
Helberg also spoke about parks that were discussed to be included within the community but never were, and said she knows at least one person who bought a home within the neighborhood because of these promised parks.
Currently, the neighborhood’s amenities are at-capacity, and the clubhouse is not even big enough to accommodate those who are already residents, said resident Barbie Sawyer. With more homes, she said, the amenities will be overburdened.
The clubhouse has the development’s sale center in it right now, but after the development is complete, that space will be turned over to the homeowners association, another Pulte Homes representative who spoke at the meeting said. Plus, additional amenities or an expanded clubhouse may be coming later in the development, he said.
In response to residents’ concerns, aldermen on the Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee agreed to hold the plans until its next meeting, which is on Feb. 11. Although it was held for the residents, Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, said she didn’t believe postponing the next phase of construction would take care of their problems.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
