Lincoln at CityGate Centre is a 285-unit development planned for the northeast corner of Westings Avenue and CityGate Lane.
The development will include a roof-level event center and an enclosed pedestrian walkway to connect to the CityGate Centre buildings to the north, such as Hotel Arista and Che Figata.
Concerns on Council
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the project, but city council had some concerns.
Since Indian Prairie School District 204 is already crowded, some were worried this would add to the problem. According to the developer, only 25 students are projected to come from the complex. However, D204’s calculations indicate about 113 students generated.
A letter from the school district states they could support the additional students, but would require an impact fee of $846,423 – almost $700,000 more than Lincoln’s estimated fee.
The other concern was affordable housing.
“Our view on attainable housing or affordable housing is that we support it. We support it very much, but we don’t know how to do it,” said Lincoln Property Company’s Development Manager Joe Segobiano. “Affordable housing developers know how to develop affordable housing. There are a lot of nuances that go into making affordable housing successful.”
Segobiano said the units will be luxury apartments priced near the high end of the marketplace.
Lincoln Offers Donation
However, they did offer to make a $200,000 donation to put towards affordable housing in Naperville.
Some councilmembers felt that gesture would set a poor precedent – that developers could pay their way out of including affordable housing.
“I don’t want this to be something where in lieu of trying to develop attainable or affordable units, it is offered as a kind of a cash donation offset,” said Councilwoman Judy Brodhead.
However the majority of council felt, since there isn’t yet a citywide mandate on affordable housing, they should accept the donation. They voted 8-1 to pass the ordinances allowing the development to proceed.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.