Saint Charles Inclusionary Housing Ordinance
Pulte Homes proposed to build a 105-home development on the 27-acre forested/industrial site west of downtown Saint Charles. The developer will be challenged to preserve the character of neighboring street’s existing homes.
In the Ninth Street Commons proposal, the commissioners challenged Pulte with several Land Use Policies, which pertain to their concept plan:
-Preserve the character of existing homes
-Evaluate the impact the development may affect our schools and traffic
-Incorporate affordable units into the project
In the current neighborhood where Pulte wants to add their subdivision, the homes range from 200,000-450,000. The lot sizes range from 50×50 and some have 1/3 acre lots. On Dean Street, the most recent newly constructed home was a Habitat for Humanity House. The Ninth Street Commons homes have an absurd price range with a two-bedroom townhome starting at a base price of 530,000. The homes, without meeting the minimum lot size requirements of Saint Charles of 50×50, have a starting price of 600,000 with a 41×50 lot.
The Pulte Ninth Street Commons Development will be subject to the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, Title 19 of the City Code.
According to Title 19, “The affordable unit requirement is for 11 units; 2 townhome units and 9 single-family homes (10% of units).”
While the code provides a means for site plans to incorporate affordable housing, developers can instead pay a fee-in-lieu of providing affordable units.
All Pulte Homes has to do is pay $262,274.00 to avoid providing any affordable homes. The fee breakdown is shown below.
