Carden Springs, a 477 apartment unit development and Infiniti Pointe, a 400 unit subdivision have both been approved by the Normal Planning Commission. Camden Springs will be developed on the Northwest corner of Beech St. and Towanda Ave. while Infiniti Pointe will be developed on the Northwest corner of Hovey Ave. and Parkside Rd.
Carden Springs
This development will consist of one and two bedroom apartment units as well as townhome buildings. Construction of the project will occur in phases over a five year period starting in the Spring of 2023. The developer will construct a northbound left turn lane on the south leg of the Beech St. and Towanda Ave. intersection to address an increase in traffic expected to make that movement.
Illinois State Senator Jason Barickman is a partner with the project developer Fairlawn Capital. Barickman described for Cities 92,9 the three questions he heard the most from concerned residents regarding the proposed development.
Barickman related those as, “What is it? Because there were questions about a multi-family development project coming to this neighborhood, so they wanted to know what is it?” “Two was given the acreage what is the density of it,”Barickman continued. “How many units per acre, questions like that.” “And three what impacts could exist on traffic,” Barickman said finishing his list.
“CARDEN SPRINGS” UNVEILED BY FAIRLAWN CAPITAL FOR NORMAL’S NORTH END
“So we really over the course of many months as we have been putting this together, we really tried to address those issues subsidently,” Barickman explained. “And the end product is the product we put forth today which you know we are extremely proud of. We think it’s going to be terrific for the community and we were very pleased to get the comments from the commissioners and ultimately the support that they showed.”
The planning commission approved annexing the property into the town and a zoning map amendment to rezone the property from county agriculture to multifamily residential. The commission also approved a preliminary development plan. These recommendations will be forwarded to the Normal Town Council for approval at its January 16th meeting.
Infiniti Pointe
The 72 acre Kruger farm property will be subdivided as part of this development. The L shaped property is bounded by West College on the north, Sheringham Dr. on the east, Widemere Dr. on the north, Parkside Rd. on the east, Hovey Ave. on the south, White Oak Road on the southwest and I-55/I-74 on the west.
The developer had a Traffic Impact Analysis conducted to determine what affect the development might have on traffic. The study found no roadway improvements would be necessitated by the development.
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Eleven residents spoke at the meeting expressing a number of concerns. Several residents were concerned about the number of new students that might want to attend Parkside Elementary School and increased traffic at the intersection of Hovey Ave. and Parkside Rd. Both of these relate to the density of the development.
The developer pointed out that the density of Infiniti Pointe is 5 and 1/2 units per acre while the density of Carden Springs which had just received approval was 13 and 1/2 units per acre.
The commission approved annexing the property and a zoning map amendment to rezone the property currently zoned agriculture to a combination of single family residential, mixed residential and medium density multifamily development.
In an effort to address the neighborhood concerns about density commissioner Bob Broad proposed an amendment to ask the council to reduce the density of the development before approving the preliminary subdivision plan with the idea being that the developer, neighborhood and staff could come to some kind of agreement on a way to do that before the January 16 Council meeting.
That amendment failed in a three to three tie vote. The commission then approved the preliminary subdivision plan as recommended by staff on a four to two vote.
Commissioner Michael Matejka explained to Cities 92.9 what some of the commissioners were trying to accomplish saying, “Because this developer was asking for variances on almost every item they were doing, I thought one of the few ways we could have an impact on that density was to not allow those variances.”
Specifically the developer was asking for variances to develop smaller lots. Matejka’s thought was that without those variances the developer would have to build to code which would require larger lots and reduce the number of units in the development and cut down on density.
The commission’s recommendations to the council will be on the January 16 town council agenda for further action.
