Weldon Reserve was back in front of the Normal Planning Commission last week. This time Fairlawn Capital, the developer, was asking for a Zoning Map Amendment and an amended Preliminary Subdivision Plan.
Robert Lenz, the attorney for Fairlawn, explained, “The primary changes are to accommodate some wishes of the neighbors. We converted one pair of duplex lots to a large single family dwelling lot adjacent to Wintergreen. We reduced the size of a few other lots along I-55 and then changed some lots on the west side to R-2 that are adjacent to existing R-2 in the other subdivision.”
The duplex lots eliminated were adjacent to the Wintergreen II subdivision on the northeast corner of the Weldon Reserve development where a street will connect the two subdivisions. Residents in Wintergreen II were concerned that duplexes near their properties would negatively impact the value of their homes.
In order to not lose units the developer went back and changed single family units on the northwest corner of the development to duplex (R-2) units and by doing so gained three units in total. The Pheasant Ridge Subdivision is immediately west of the Weldon Reserve development but there will be no street connection to that neighborhood.
The commission approved these changes
Rivian
Rivian also went before the Normal Planning commission last week. They were asking for approval of an Amended Site Plan to allow construction of a parking lot and the installation of a solar array.
Sean Larson, a Lead on Rivian’s construction team said, “We are doing a south parking lot expansion on the south side of the plant in Normal. It’s basically, pretty self explanatory, a new parking lot, it’s about 11 hundred, 12 hundred new spaces. “We are hoping to start construction here by the next month or two and hoping to have the first phase complete by this fall,” Larson stated.
According to Lawson the construction can not start until Normal gets utility relocation work completed as part of the W. College Ave. construction project. Some of the new utilities will be installed under the proposed parking lot so parking lot work can’t begin until work on those utilities is finished.
Normal’s staff report says, ” Rivian has a traffic impact study underway to determine what traffic control may be required at the access point from College to the parking lot.” The study will also look at the impacts to the U.S. 150 (Rivian Motorway) and W. College Ave. This study is also being done in conjunction with the W. College Ave. project.
The ground-mounted solar array will be constructed on 15 acres east of the test track, which is east of the plant itself. Rivian plans to plant native wildflowers and native grasses beneath the array.
The commission also approved these requests.