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Urbana council approves Main Street PUD with tenant-notice and tree-preservation conditions
Summary
After hours of public comment and council debate, Urbana approved a planned unit development for 413–419 West Main Street, adding amendments requiring six months' notice to existing tenants and a good-faith effort to retain and repurpose on-site trees.
The Urbana City Council voted to approve ordinance 20 26 - 05 - 013, a planned unit development (PUD) for 413–419 West Main Street, after adopting amendments intended to protect existing residents and on-site trees.
Council Member Grace moved approval of the PUD; the motion was seconded by Council Member Hersey. During a lengthy public-comment period residents and neighborhood advocates offered sharply divided views. Supporters said the project will add 32 units close to downtown and transit; opponents said it would replace low-cost housing, increase neighborhood congestion and lacked a meaningful public amenity.
Several speakers from the public urged the council either to approve the PUD to increase housing supply or to reject it for failing to meet R-2 zoning expectations. Resident Carolyn Baxley argued the proposal would "displace several African American low income families" and provide no public benefit; Jeff Trainor cited traffic and parking concerns across from Phillips Rec Center. Proponents, including an emailed Ward 3 supporter read into the record, said the site is largely vacant and that added housing would relieve market pressure.
Council deliberations focused on whether the PUD met the ordinance's public-amenity and comprehensive-plan tests. A staff member confirmed that a 20-foot easement for Boneyard Creek was being counted as a public amenity and noted the site's flood-plain engineering influenced the design.
Council adopted two substantive amendments before voting on the main motion. One amendment requires the developer to provide at least six months' notice to existing tenants prior to any required vacancy; the second asks the developer to maintain existing trees on-site "wherever possible" and to make a good-faith effort to repurpose removed trees for on-site uses (for example benches or mulch).
Following those amendments, the council voted by roll call to approve the PUD with the added conditions. The transcript records one council member voting no and the remaining members present voting yes.
Developer representatives said they would seek to reserve a small number of units for voucher holders and had discussed accepting housing vouchers; they also said the project had been engineered to meet flood-plain requirements and that some existing structures on the site were in poor condition.
The ordinance approval was paired with council direction that conditions be codified in the approval language so commitments such as vouchers, tenant-notice and tree-preservation are enforceable. The council did not adopt a separate affordable-unit set-aside but recorded a developer commitment to a "good-faith effort" to advertise to voucher holders and hold several units for vouchers if contractually feasible.
The PUD and its conditions now move to staff for incorporation into the final development agreement and applicable permits; council members requested clearer language for construction and tree-repurposing feasibility before implementation.
