Developer seeks mixed‑use rezoning for Damish Farm site; neighbors object to New Haven Drive connection

The Village of Cary's Zoning, Planning & Appeals Commission heard a mixed‑use redevelopment proposal for the Damish Farm property on Route 31 on July 17, 2025, in a meeting that stretched past 9 p.m. The petitioner, Fiduciary Real Estate Development, presented plans for roughly 360 market‑rate apartment homes behind about 4.7 acres of commercial frontage and asked the commission for a comprehensive plan amendment, a zoning map amendment, a final plat, a planned unit development (PUD) with multiple departures and a variance from the McHenry County stormwater ordinance. The hearing was continued to Aug. 21, 2025, so village staff and consultants can review additional materials.

The proposal matters because it would change the Damish Farm site's future‑land‑use designation from commercial to a mixed commercial/multifamily designation and rezone most of the parcel to R‑3 multifamily while leaving a commercial strip on Route 31. Brian Simmons, the village's director of community development, told the commission the comp plan and the Route 31 sub‑area plan support commercial frontage on 31 and housing behind it, and that the petitioner bears the burden to show the proposal meets the Unified Development Ordinance standards.

Developer Tony DeRosa, vice president of Fiduciary Real Estate Development, told the commission his company is proposing a two‑phase, two‑story townhouse‑style rental community with 234 units in phase one and 126 in phase two, totaling 360 units; approximately 44 percent one‑bedroom, 44 percent two‑bedroom and about 12 percent three‑bedroom units. DeRosa said the commercial area would total about 4.7 acres and could accommodate roughly 32,000 square feet of retail; he said the project has a roughly $100 million construction value, an estimated $1.4 million in annual property tax increment when fully built and an estimated $39.6 million of…