St. John rezoning plan brings concerns
Resident expresses issues regarding proposal for The Gates of St. John subdivision
A plan to rezone 108 acres in St. John got off to a rough start Wednesday at the town’s Plan Commission meeting.
Currently zoned R1 for single-family homes, the property in The Gates of St. John subdivision sits east of Cline Avenue between U.S. 231 and Joliet Street.
The petitioner is seeking to rezone the land to R2-PUD, which is still single-family homes but allows for more creativity for the space, smaller lots and more houses per acre.
About 20 residents, most of whom live in the Gates or nearby, spoke out against the rezone and in the end the commission in a 4-2 vote sent an unfavorable recommendation to the Town Council.
The property and adjacent property of which would combine for 219 acres is part of a settlement from a pending lawsuit between the town and the Gates of St. John developer, BLB St. John, regarding a dispute of a contractual agreement over a recapture agreement for a lift station and an interceptor sewer that ran through the Gates and where a tie-in was made.
The adjacent property is heading toward being annexed into town after an ordinance passed on first reading in a 4-1 Town Council vote last month despite an outpouring of concerns from residents who, like Wednesday’s Plan Commission, packed the town hall for that meeting as well.
As for the property in question in front of the Plan Commission, attorney Tim Kuiper, representing developer John Lotton of BLB, said the average lot size would be 11,200 square feet, which would be consistent with the style and product already in the Gates, which is 10,200 square feet. Plans call for 3.26 units per acre. Resident Linda Sullivan, like many others, is concerned about increased traffic and the condition of roads the project would impact.
Original plans for the Gates of St. John called for a fire station, and that has yet to be added. Sullivan said it should before adding more homes.
She is also concerned about the impact on Crown Point School Corp., because the majority of kids in the overall development would attend those schools because it is in Center Township.
“We should be a good neighbor,” she said. Board member and St. John Police Officer Steve Flores voted for an unfavorable recommendation of the rezone and said while he is not against the development “we need to take a step back and do it right.”
“I’d like to see an R1 stay there,” he said. “We’ve been approving a lot of R2 lately and I think it needs to start going back to R1.”
Flores said it would impact schools “pretty significantly” and as a public safety officer for the town this is going to put a drain on both the police and the fire departments.
“The people spoke and we work for them,” he said.
Board member Paul Panczuk also voted for the unfavorable recommendation and said adjacent properties consist of either 1 unit per acre or 2.3 units per acre over 702 acres to the west.
“And we are going to sandwich 3.26 units per acre right in the middle,” he said. “That is no possible way conforming to the adjacent land.”
Panczuk also said the developer did not provide a traffic study or proposed road improvements.
“This development is not ready,” he said. “Even if I had all those plans I question the density at 3.26. The only creativity is how many homes can be crammed into 108 acres.”
The final decision is expected to go in front of the Town Council at its Sept. 26 meeting.