Planning board forwards Villas at Crystal Lake planned‑business extension to trustees with conditions

The Planning & Zoning Board on Jan. 6 voted to forward a planned‑business application for the Villas at Crystal Lake to the board of trustees with a positive recommendation, after staff and the applicant addressed questions on parking, accessibility and drainage.

Architect Doug McElveau (Roseman & Associates) said the owner, Crystal Lakes Capital 360, proposes a property refresh and the addition of 40 dwelling units, mostly one‑bedroom apartments. He said a traffic study shows the project would add about 27 peak‑hour trips — roughly 1.4% of the capacity on Illinois 159 — and that the owner had consulted HUD on the project. "We did commission the traffic study to evaluate the additional loads," McElveau said, and the report is available with the submittal.

Residents asked how the project would replace enclosed garages, how many parking spaces the expanded site would provide, and how accessibility routes would be handled where grades change. The applicant said the planned‑business package included a modest reduction in minimum stall width (from 10 feet to 9) and a request to lower the blended parking ratio slightly; the submittal calculates a blended parking demand of 1.81 spaces per unit and requests 1.66 per unit for the renovated property.

Board members sought clarification on building grades, retaining walls, whether the private fire loop could handle any added demand, and whether IDNR or state highway drainage issues might apply; the applicant said drainage calculations show a net reduction in runoff for the proposed changes but agreed to follow up with civil and fire‑service details.

A motion to forward the planned‑business submittal to trustees passed on a roll call; staff will present the item at the board of trustees meeting on Jan. 20. Members asked the applicant to provide final civil, accessibility and fire‑service details for trustee consideration.