Saint Charles committee approves easement reduction at 888 Foxglen Drive with conditions

The Saint Charles City Planning and Development Committee on Jan. 13 approved a request to reduce a natural-area easement at 888 Foxglen Drive, a roughly 4.5-acre flag lot in the Foxglen subdivision, conditioned on limiting the reduction to no more than 25 percent of the easement area, replacing removed trees and pursuing a land-swap to return easement acreage to adjacent lots.

The committee voted to recommend approval after staff described the request and said the property owner’s realtor, Katie Fish, had secured conceptual approval from the Woodford Foxglen Owners Association but still needed formal HOA board sign-off and a plat of easement vacation before city council action. Staff told the committee the lot is the largest in the subdivision, that the easement runs along the northern and eastern edges of the parcel, and that the owner’s current request would reduce the eastern easement by 90 feet to allow a pool and remove 31 trees, and reduce the northern easement by 40 feet to widen a driveway without removing trees.

The request prompted questions from several committee members about precedent and long-term policy. One member said earlier approvals in the neighborhood had been as high as 28 percent and expressed concern about setting a precedent if larger reductions were allowed in future cases. Another member said the city should review the origin and purpose of the conservation easement—whether it originated with the subdivision’s plat or with the HOA—before making exceptions that could open the door to more reductions.

Katie Fish, the listing agent representing the property owner, told the committee the lot is hilly, heavily ravined and set back from surrounding homes, and that buyers frequently ask where a pool could be placed. “The house is literally right on top of it,” Fish said of the easement’s proximity to the rear patio, and she told the committee the applicants are agreeable to replanting trees as required.

Committee members proposed conditions to address concerns about precedent and tree canopy loss. One member suggested reducing the requested removal from 33 percent of the easement area to 25 percent and requiring replacement plantings; another suggested a square-foot-for-square-foot land trade, returning roughly 22,000 square feet of easement somewhere on the parcel adjacent to neighboring lots. Committee staff agreed they could draft specifics and compare past approvals in the neighborhood; staff said there had been one similar request in Foxglen in 2024 and one in 2021, and roughly four to five comparable requests across the city in the past five years.

A motion to approve the request with conditions—capping the reduction at 25 percent, requiring replanting of removed trees, and pursuing a land-swap—was made and seconded. The committee recorded a unanimous roll-call vote in favor and will forward the matter to the city council after the applicant obtains the HOA’s written approval and a plat of easement vacation.

The committee also directed staff to provide a clearer record of prior easement modifications and to review the underlying easement language and origin so members can consider whether a policy or rubric should guide future decisions. The committee’s recommendation is advisory to the full city council, which must receive the HOA’s written approval and the required plat documents before taking final action.