Geneva meeting rages over former Duke and Lee’s site zoning

A dispute over a development and zoning process for the former Duke and Lee’s site dominated a Geneva City Council meeting for more than two hours.

The issue was a letter on the city’s letterhead with all officials' signatures sent to the Illinois Housing Development Authority March 27, 2024.

The letter was on behalf of the Burton Foundation, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing, so it could apply for tax credits to build affordable senior housing at the former Duke and Lee’s, 609 S. Third St.

Some residents spoke against the Burton Foundation at the March 3 meeting for its other affordable housing project in Geneva, Emma’s Landing, citing the double homicide on Dec. 26, 2024, and other crimes and police calls.

Officials said the letter was perfunctory and did not reflect a done-deal – and that the Burton Foundation had not submitted any formal plans.

Resident Mark Porter disputed that the letter was perfunctory because the site plan was extended, meaning unless a proposal was substantially different, a public hearing was not required.

There were two letters, one stating it was for 54 units and another reducing it to 35 units.

The city extended the previous owner’s site plan in October. The Burton Foundation bought the property the next month, on Nov. 7, 2024, for $995,000, according to property records.

The original site plan was for 60 apartments and 6,014 square feet of commercial space, approved Aug. 17, 2020.

Site plan approval is effective for one year unless a building permit was issued and construction begun. Without site plan approval extension, a developer has to start all over again, officials said.

“The Burton Foundation does not have the funding for the project as it sits today and the allotment of funds wouldn’t even come until June of 2025 to be able to finance the building,” Porter said.

Other residents spoke of Emma’s Landing, which opened in 2023, regarding its residents, the December double murder and the number of police calls.

“I’m not saying that Geneva does not need affordable housing, I just don’t want it (in) downtown Geneva,” resident Kathy Showalter said.

“I’ll be frank,” resident Katherine Lapetina said. “We don’t really want the ghetto, all right? ... I don’t know why anybody would want affordable housing on Third Street. ... And you know, domestic violence happens everywhere. Murders happen everywhere. A lot of that we can’t control. This is something we can actually control.”

Then, Lapetina said directly to Mayor Kevin Burns, “I don’t know if you get a cut.”

The City Council waived the rules to allow officials to respond.

The letters the city sent to the Illinois Housing Development Authority on behalf of the Burton Foundation do not constitute a formal plan, Burns said.

“A concept plan for any development is not a formal plan, period,” Burns said. “There is no formal plan.”

Letters regarding the Burton Foundation are zoning determination letters – the same type the city sends on behalf of developers all the time, Burns said.

“The determination letter sent (regarding) the Burton Foundation was exactly that. Perfunctory is indeed what those letters are – hundreds of letters over the years,” Burns said.

But no council member, not himself, no Planning and Zoning Commissioner or Historic Preservation Commissioner can state before a formal application for development that they do or don’t support it, Burns said.

To do so would violate due process, he said, which is the objective consideration of a plan prior to it reaching the council, he said.

“When and if such a plan would be submitted, it first is vetted by our professional staff, then posted on the website, it becomes public,” Burns said. “Zoning does not talk about people, it talks about land use.”

If a plan goes to a recommending body, such as the Planning and Zoning Commission or the Historic Preservation Commission, then it is ultimately passed on to the City Council for final approval or denial, Burns said.

“It’s as simple as that. It’s not Geneva’s process, it’s every municipality’s process,” Burns said.

Other alderpersons also weighed in, explaining the zoning process and defending the city against claims that it favors a development before it’s submitted.

“That parcel (former Duke and Lee’s) is zoned downtown commercial mixed use right now. There had been an approved plan under a previous owner,” First ward Alderperson Michael Bruno said.

The Burton Foundation’s development model is affordable housing.

“When someone comes in looking at property, looking for development, they don’t want their competition to know what they’re doing. That’s often explicitly asked to be confidential,” Bruno said. “We’d be a very hostile community to any developer if we started throwing that information out prematurely.”

Fourth Ward Alderperson Amy Mayer said leaving the site plan approval open is a way to draw developers in.

“That project was seen as desirable, at the end of Third Street, to have ... residential,” Mayer said. “We have a strategic plan. It calls for housing. When we approve housing that’s not affordable, we get an uprise that why isn’t it affordable? We need affordable senior housing.”