Lockport to begin 2025 budget talks, review proposed housing development

Lockport — During the upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting on Wednesday in Lockport, committee members will review the draft of the 2025 budget.

According to committee documents, the budget potentially will include increased spending, drawing about $6 million from excess reserve funds, in order to complete several capital projects, including a planned project on 11th Street, and create a summer market series in the Metra Train Station parking lot.

Copies of the draft budget are available on the city website through the meeting’s agenda documents, and the committee plans to have a final version of the budget approved Dec. 4.

The committee also discuss a proposed plan for a housing development south of the Cedar Ridge subdivision located off 167th Street.

The property is 78 acres and currently zoned for residential development. It was considered for an age-restricted community in 2009, but those plans were never completed.

The plan, which was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission on Oct. 8 by a vote of 3 to 2, proposes a development of 278 single-family homes including 114 townhomes and 164 single-family homes ranging in lot size from 5,160 square feet to 9,000 square feet.

Questions about the plan, which developer M/I Homes has been asked to address, include the impacts on traffic and local schools, as well as concerns about increased flooding risks.

Those issues are expected to be discussed during the presentation.