Post by title1parent on Nov 18, 2009 6:29:14 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1887798,2_1_AU17_STUDENTS_S1-091117.article
East board says no more students
Aurora City Council turns down Terra Oaks
November 17, 2009
By ANDRE SALLES asalles@scn1.com
AURORA -- For years, the East Aurora School District has watched as its enrollment and class sizes continued to grow, and its tax revenue stagnated. But that tension may have finally hit its breaking point.
At its Sept. 21 meeting, the East Aurora School Board unanimously rejected a plan for a new development called Terra Oaks. The proposal called for 192 units on 15 acres, just south of I-88 and east of Farnsworth Avenue off of Molitor Road. And according to developer Michael Mattio of American Development LLC, only 54 school-age children were expected to live there by the time it was built out.
But School Board members said that even that number was too high, and took a hard-line stance -- the district can take no more students, they said.
Last week, the Aurora City Council followed suit, rejecting the Terra Oaks plan unanimously. And according to Alderman Mike Saville, 6th Ward, the School Board's vote was one of the main reasons the council turned it down. Saville chairs the Planning and Development Committee, which also voted unanimously to deny the plan last month.
"The fact that it was a unanimous vote (from the School Board) sent a powerful statement to the City Council," Saville said.
That statement has been a long time in coming, as Board Member Juanita Wells can tell you. Wells has been on the board for 17 years, and she's seen the district add thousands of students, while not raking in the tax money needed to keep class sizes down. For years, district officials have been pushing for more tax-generating commercial development, and less child-generating residential development.
"It's been proven that a smaller class size leads to a better education, with more opportunity for individual attention," Wells said. "We're trying to make sure all the kids have an opportunity to get the education they need."
And Wells said she doesn't necessarily trust the formulas developers use to determine how many school-age children will come out of each new subdivision. She said the board has seen those estimates be inaccurate a few times, particularly at Allen Elementary School, on South Farnsworth Avenue. That school draws students from a few different subdivisions, she said, and has seen "more students than we anticipated."
What about future projects?
With aldermen taking the School Board's concerns seriously, the question has been raised: what does this mean for future development in the district?
First, as both Saville and Chief Development Services Officer Bill Wiet pointed out, Terra Oaks raised more concerns than just the school situation. Saville said he was concerned about traffic noise so close to I-88, and called the development's price points -- ranging from $200,000 to $300,000 for condominiums and townhomes -- "noble but unrealistic."
Wiet noted that this parcel was originally part of the Oak Creek planned development, annexed into the city in 1967. It was never built out, but the original master plan for Mattio's 15 acres called for two nine-story towers, with a total of 548 dwelling units. City staff, Wiet said, talked Mattio down to 192 units.
But the Terra Oaks plan, he said, was just the wrong development for that plot of land.
Still, the School Board's unanimous "no" vote certainly played a part in the council's decision, Saville said. In fact, when the developer came before Saville's committee, he suggested turning Terra Oaks into an age-restricted senior development, to head off that concern.
"I think it would be better for themselves, for the School District, and everybody would win," Saville said. "But they were reluctant to do that."
Mattio declined to comment for this story. His attorney, John Pieper, could not be reached Monday.
Wiet sees the current situation in East Aurora as an opportunity to create more senior, age-restricted developments, like Stonegate West. Wiet and Saville both said the city would be watching development requests in the East Aurora district closely, and suggesting ways developers could make their projects more attractive to the School Board.
As for the School Board, Wells said their future approvals would be based on where any new developments would be built, and which schools they would be near. Some of the district's schools are at capacity, she said, while some are overcrowded.
"I think the School Board will have to study that," she said.
East board says no more students
Aurora City Council turns down Terra Oaks
November 17, 2009
By ANDRE SALLES asalles@scn1.com
AURORA -- For years, the East Aurora School District has watched as its enrollment and class sizes continued to grow, and its tax revenue stagnated. But that tension may have finally hit its breaking point.
At its Sept. 21 meeting, the East Aurora School Board unanimously rejected a plan for a new development called Terra Oaks. The proposal called for 192 units on 15 acres, just south of I-88 and east of Farnsworth Avenue off of Molitor Road. And according to developer Michael Mattio of American Development LLC, only 54 school-age children were expected to live there by the time it was built out.
But School Board members said that even that number was too high, and took a hard-line stance -- the district can take no more students, they said.
Last week, the Aurora City Council followed suit, rejecting the Terra Oaks plan unanimously. And according to Alderman Mike Saville, 6th Ward, the School Board's vote was one of the main reasons the council turned it down. Saville chairs the Planning and Development Committee, which also voted unanimously to deny the plan last month.
"The fact that it was a unanimous vote (from the School Board) sent a powerful statement to the City Council," Saville said.
That statement has been a long time in coming, as Board Member Juanita Wells can tell you. Wells has been on the board for 17 years, and she's seen the district add thousands of students, while not raking in the tax money needed to keep class sizes down. For years, district officials have been pushing for more tax-generating commercial development, and less child-generating residential development.
"It's been proven that a smaller class size leads to a better education, with more opportunity for individual attention," Wells said. "We're trying to make sure all the kids have an opportunity to get the education they need."
And Wells said she doesn't necessarily trust the formulas developers use to determine how many school-age children will come out of each new subdivision. She said the board has seen those estimates be inaccurate a few times, particularly at Allen Elementary School, on South Farnsworth Avenue. That school draws students from a few different subdivisions, she said, and has seen "more students than we anticipated."
What about future projects?
With aldermen taking the School Board's concerns seriously, the question has been raised: what does this mean for future development in the district?
First, as both Saville and Chief Development Services Officer Bill Wiet pointed out, Terra Oaks raised more concerns than just the school situation. Saville said he was concerned about traffic noise so close to I-88, and called the development's price points -- ranging from $200,000 to $300,000 for condominiums and townhomes -- "noble but unrealistic."
Wiet noted that this parcel was originally part of the Oak Creek planned development, annexed into the city in 1967. It was never built out, but the original master plan for Mattio's 15 acres called for two nine-story towers, with a total of 548 dwelling units. City staff, Wiet said, talked Mattio down to 192 units.
But the Terra Oaks plan, he said, was just the wrong development for that plot of land.
Still, the School Board's unanimous "no" vote certainly played a part in the council's decision, Saville said. In fact, when the developer came before Saville's committee, he suggested turning Terra Oaks into an age-restricted senior development, to head off that concern.
"I think it would be better for themselves, for the School District, and everybody would win," Saville said. "But they were reluctant to do that."
Mattio declined to comment for this story. His attorney, John Pieper, could not be reached Monday.
Wiet sees the current situation in East Aurora as an opportunity to create more senior, age-restricted developments, like Stonegate West. Wiet and Saville both said the city would be watching development requests in the East Aurora district closely, and suggesting ways developers could make their projects more attractive to the School Board.
As for the School Board, Wells said their future approvals would be based on where any new developments would be built, and which schools they would be near. Some of the district's schools are at capacity, she said, while some are overcrowded.
"I think the School Board will have to study that," she said.