Lennar 320 Unit P.U.D. Info
In April, 2024, the Woodstock City Council approved all of the preliminary measures that have allowed the Lennar Riverwoods development off of Doty and Lucas Roads in Woodstock to go forward. The Woodstock Mayor and the City Council emphasized that Woodstock had not had a major development in a decade and that this proposed development was necessary for Woodstock’s future. The objections were not based on whether or not growth is good for Woodstock–but whether this particular series of parcels is where Woodstock should grow.
The Woodstock Plan Commission did not approve of this development. Their concerns included: 1) the official NRI report indicating that the vast majority of the acreage has “severe building limitations,” 2) traffic issues, including the overburdened intersection at Lucas Road and Route 47.
On Thursday, October 17, 2024, the Woodstock Plan Commission will weigh in on Final Plat Approval.
We are not certain what the plan commission could do or change. Nevertheless, if individuals have concerns regarding the Final Plat Approval, this is the time to try to address these potential concerns because this will be item (c) involving new business before the Plan Commission.
See: https://woodstockil.gov/AgendaCenter/Plan-Commission-14/?
Background:
• 244 Single Family, 76 Duplex “homesites” = 320 units total.
• Lennar (originally Realen Homes) had proposed this subdivision in 2004-2008, but with lower-density single-family homes. Then, they were not using the two McHenry County parcels off of Lucas Road. This is where Lennar will place the 76 high-density duplex units here.
• Main entrances off Lucas Road. Second entrance off Memorial Drive by the hospital. Note that the City of Woodstock had acknowledged the sightline concerns of placing this entrance on Lucas Road. The City of Woodstock contended that the access off of Lucas Road aligned with the driveway on the sought side of Lucas. However, this was not the case as that driveway is located at the top of the small hill causing visibility issues while the access road entry is located further to the west (just over the hill as approaching east to west).
Issues that the Objectors Brought to the Attention of the City Council.
• Severe Building Limitations for both basements and slabs on nearly 90% of acreage. According to the required Natural Resource Inventory Report, (NRI 23-061-4521) 88.5% of the area has “severe limitations” for basements and slabs. Despite the problems identified in the NRI, the developer will have partial basements in all single-family homes. The Executive Summary at p. 3 stated, “It is recommended that the structures have crawl spaces instead of basements…” It then states that, at a minimum, all units should have drain tiles and sump pumps.
The NRI states:
Building on Poorly Suited or Unsuitable Soils: Can present problems to future property owners such as cracked foundations, wet basements, lowered structural integrity and high maintenance costs associated with these problems.
By way of comparison, the official soil and water reports of properties over 5 acres in McHenry County were obtained. Including this proposed development, there are 12 properties since 2015. The other developments range in size from 8 acres to 92 acres. Of those, none had nearly as substantial floodplain acreage. No other proposed development had the percentage of hydric soil (saturated, flooded or ponded) in the range of the proposed development. And not one other proposed development that involved rezoning had severe limitations for slabs of more than 28% of the overall acreage compared to 88.5% severe limitations for both basements and slabs. Yet at the City Council meeting where the decision was made, the Mayor had a map displayed showing that much of McHenry County was built in hydric soils. But it was the combination of soil types that is unique to this development that pointed out as beyond problematic by the objectors.
A breakdown of the soil on this land where the P.U.D. will be placed is:
| Soil | |||||||
| 39.04 | Hydric | Soil formed in conditions of saturation, flooding, or ponding for extended periods during growing season. | |||||
| 9.62 | Organic | One simply cannot build on organic soil. | |||||
| 52.91 | Somewhat poorly drained: Seasonal high water 1 to 2 feet below the surface | ||||||
| 101.57 | Total acreage with all 3 of these soil beyond problematic soil types for basements. | ||||||
| 135 | Total Acres | ||||||
| 75% | Percentage with these beyond problematic soil types. | ||||||
Click on the link that follows to see Gunnar J. Gitlin’s letter to the City of Woodstock, Plan Commission, addressing the severe building limitations identified by the NRI Report. Gunnar Gitlin Letter to CoW Plan Commission
Lennar will have basements built on all of the single-family homes despite the concerns identified by both the NRI Report and the expert testimony. Lennar further acknowledged that the reason for including basements is market demands. Note that nearly all of the acreage for Riverwoods will be built on soil identified by the NRI Report as having either a moderately-high or a high potential for shallow-aquifer contamination.
• Increase in Potential for Flooding in the Area. The Report indicates that if the development occurs on hydric soils, this raises the concern for “loss of water storage in these areas and the potential for increased flooding in the area.”
There’s also a soil type that is called poorly drained soil. The last category has seasonal high water at only 1 to 2 feet below the soil surface. So, while the Mayor pointed out that developments on hydric soils are not uncommon, it was not recognized that these three soil types consist of 75% of the overall acreage.
