April 07, 2025
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Yorkville to take another look at townhome plans at former Parfection Park site

City council had previously tabled topic over school district concerns

By Joey Weslo
Representing Yorkville School District 115, Kreg Wesley, assistant superintendent of business services, tells the city council at their March 11 meeting that the school district is in a capacity crisis and cannot handle any more students coming in because of new residential developments.

(File photo) Representing Yorkville School District 115, Kreg Wesley, assistant superintendent of business services, previously told the city council that the school district is in a capacity crisis and cannot handle any more students coming in because of new residential developments. (Joey Weslo)

Four weeks have passed since the Yorkville city council tabled a large townhome development after a representative of the Yorkville 115 school district said their classrooms could not handle any more capacity and were already “bursting at the seams.” The council will take a look at those plans again.

The Fox Haven 1115, LLC, development at the former site of Parfection Park, 1115 South Bridge Street proposes redeveloping 13 acres to construct 18 townhome buildings with 105 dwelling units.

Fox Haven, a proposed town home development with 18 buildings and 105 dwelling units, will be located at 115 South Bridge Street if the project receives city approval.

Fox Haven, a proposed town home development with 18 buildings and 105 dwelling units, will be located at 115 South Bridge Street if the project receives city approval. (Provided by the City of Yorkville)

The city council approved on March 11 increasing the development’s transition fees residential developers pay to the school district, from $3,000 per home to $5,000.

At the upcoming April 8 meeting, city council will again reconsider rezoning the property to allow multi-family residence townhomes and to approve the planned unit development agreement with 1115, LLC.

The school district is expected to request the city to approve an updated transition fee in the $8,000 to $10,000 per home range following an analysis conducted in late spring.

Following feedback, the plans include buffer requirements between the townhome development and the adjacent Greenbriar residential subdivision to the west. There is also one required between the Prairie Garden subdivision to the south.

“We’re busting at the seams, and we really need to get a good handle on our development,” Kreg Wesly, District 115’s assistant superintendent of business services, said at the March 11 meeting. “We are in support of a development like this, there’s tons of value to it. The issue is the district cannot support this development at this time, even with the increased transition fees.”

With the region’s population growth far outpacing investment in the school district’s buildings and infrastructure, classroom capacity has become a crisis.

The district recently approved installing temporary “pole barn classrooms” at a cost of $3 million because its elementary schools are out of space. The district is also planning to bus students to different schools than their closest ones to better balance capacity at each of the district’s over-filled schools.

The townhome project’s developers, 1115, LLC, argue the townhomes will only produce 23 extra students. With their transition fees increased to the school district from $471,000 total to $785,000, they argue they have mitigated their potential impacts on the district.

Wesley previously said that 23 extra students and extra money will not prevent the development from exacerbating the district’s capacity issues.

Transition fees are impact fees designed to offset the costs of student enrollment growth spurred by new residential developments. They help cover lags between new students using district resources before their household pays their first property bills.