Normal has approved the Weldon Reserve Subdivision First Addition. The first addition consists of approximately 12 acres and contains 44 lots. Forty will be developed as single-family, detached units, and four will be attached, single-family units. The main access to this addition will be off Beech Street. This addition will also connect the new homes to Bristlecone Drive, which is located at the north end of the Wintergreen Subdivision Second Addition.
The Weldon Reserve Subdivision is located on the north side of Beech Street between the Pheasant Ridge Subdivision and the Wintergreen Subdivision. Weldon Reserve encompasses approximately 26 acres and contains single-family detached homes with an area of attached zero-lot-lines along the north property line.
Fairlawn Capital is the developer. Former State Senator Jason Barickman is a partner in Fairlawn Capital.
Last fall Wintergreen residents were concerned about “cut through” traffic using Bristlecone Drive.
The connection is required by the town of Normal, Weldon Reserve is designed to have only one point of ingress and egress off of Beech Street , and Wintergreen Second Addition only has one. The town claims the connection is needed for safety purposes. A second entrance to each subdivision provides access by emergency vehicles should the main entrance to either subdivision be blocked.
According to City Manager Pam Reece, “Developers typically don’t record the final plats and pay the fees until they are ready to get going because recording the final plat like council just approved tonight requires payment of development fees.”
Regarding the local “housing crisis” perceived by some in the community Reece said, “Everything makes a difference and is impactful. If sometime in the spring we have 40 or 50 more dwelling units that will be great,” said Reece. “Certainly it’s going to be a drop in the bucket based on what we need but council has approved a number of developments this year with a lot of units to be on the horizon so hopefully those move forward.”
According to Reece earth has already been moved on Weldon Reserve and Fairlawn has been doing a number of utility extensions.
Asked to react to the perception of some in the local housing development industry that do not believe there is a housing crisis right now Reece said, “I haven’t heard anybody say that so that just goes against all the other messages we keep hearing from Economic Development Council and from employers.”
“The market has cooled off because of not just construction prices but also interest rates, said Reece. “So I think it has slowed down but I don’t know that, that means demand has slowed down. I think there still is a demand.”
When asked about the number of units on the market that local developer Tentac has right now being more than they would like to have available at any given time Reece said, “Well that’s great. Hopefully they are promoting that. Because like I said that’s different from what we keep hearing.”
“Somewhere there may be a disconnect,” said Reece. “If they have units available, then hopefully they are connecting with area employers and the Economic Development Council and the Realtor’s Association to make people aware that they have got available units.
In the interim, based on information that has been presented to her, it appears that Reece will continue to rely on the housing study conducted by the Economic Development Council.
