Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Heron Landing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lenar Homes27 Heron Landing moved to public hearing after design revisions, infrastructure talks
Summary
Lenar Homes presented Heron Landing, an 80-acre, 146-lot single-family subdivision, and the Winfield Plan Commission voted to send the AG-to-PDR rezoning to a public hearing after discussing lot widths, proposed road contributions, roundabout timing and stormwater handling.
Todd Cleven, vice president of land for Lenar Homes, told the Winfield Plan Commission the Heron Landing proposal at 5510 East 117th Avenue consists of about 80 acres and 146 single-family home sites and includes three new house elevations the company developed after earlier feedback. Cleven said the project includes a relocated park, walking paths around a fully wet detention pond and a mix of one- and two-story products with floor plans ranging from roughly 1,845 to 2,970 square feet.
Cleven said the company previously offered $300,000 in road improvements and proposed increasing contributions tied to permit milestones, noting a mechanism that would roughly equate to $450,000 if the commission preferred to round the figure. He also described constructing Gibson Street in phase one to provide immediate connectivity and proposed building the project27s front entrance so it could be reconfigured later if and when a roundabout is installed.
Brad Moore, the project civil engineer, explained the stormwater strategy: detention ponds north and south of the site, routing nuisance everyday flows into underground tile, and detaining larger stormwater events so downstream flows toward State Street would be reduced. Cleven said the applicant had petitioned and received conditional approval from the Lake County Drainage Board for the subsurface tile concept pending final town engineering review.
Commissioners pressed the applicant about lot widths in curved sections (examples of curb-side widths cited around 72 feet) and whether three-car garages could be accommodated. Cleven said most home sites would support three-car garages but that some lots would be two-car for affordability and because curve-shaped lots cannot always fit a third bay; staff noted the PDR chart controls lot widths at 80 feet but allows exceptions for curve and common-area lots.
On timing and phasing, Cleven outlined an aggressive grading plan with infrastructure work in the first season and possible community build-out extending into 2027; sales pace was described as roughly one to two houses per month for this higher-priced product. Town staff said the roundabout is in design and recommended a two-lane configuration based on traffic modeling; the applicants and staff agreed to coordinate roundabout timing with adjacent projects to limit rework and avoid routing Alsworth traffic through Gibson prematurely.
After discussion about construction traffic routing and funding alternatives (additional cash contributions versus TIF/TIP participation), Commissioner Dave Anderson moved — and the commission approved by voice vote — to advance the Heron Landing AG-to-PDR petition to a public hearing scheduled for March 19.
The commission recorded several follow-up items for the public hearing: clarification of lot-width counts and exceptions in the PDR, finalized engineering submittals for stormwater and drainage coordination with the Lake County Drainage Board, and a more specific roundabout cost estimate and right-of-way plan.
