New Lennar Subdivision in West Aurora - Good or Bad for Community???

Lennar Home Builders will create a new subdivision right here in our neck of the woods. The subdivision will be on the former property owned by the Voris family and most recently by West Aurora School District 129. It is bordered on the west by Sans Souci subdivision, the east by Alschuler subdivision, north by Kensington, and south by Prairie Street.

As we live only two blocks away, this has obviously been an important issue for me personally and for our neighborhood. Alderman Carl Franco was kind enough to set up an open house recently to give residents an opportunity to see what is planned and also ask questions of representatives from Lennar. I was happy to see many familiar faces at the open house and had a chance to talk with different neighbors and get an overall sense of how this community will impact our area.

We all knew that this vacant land would not stay that way forever. Even neighbors I spoke with, who will back right up to the new subdivision, had a sense that their farm field backyard wouldn’t last forever. There were concerns about traffic, the impact on schools, demographics for the new subdivision, impact on our groundwater, and potential runoff, etc...

To sum up my thoughts after considering what Lennar is proposing...

I think it will be good for our community. I was so happy to see that the subdivision will target empty nesters with its offering of ranch-style homes. It will not technically be a 55+ community, but the amenities they are offering and the way the subdivision will be designed definitely appeal more to the “older crowd”. I like this because the impact on the schools and traffic will be reduced with this target market. Having lived in a ranch-style home for most of my 50 years on this earth, I am also a sucker for a nice ranch layout. There will not be a traditional park in the subdivision that would attract children. There will be nice open space and even a putting green for community members to use (and maybe guys who will walk two blocks with a putter and a ball in hand). The design includes three retention ponds to control the water flow (think Cherry Hill during the flood) that have a natural component to them and should look nice. I have more questions about the retention areas that I will address in the future, but I like the original plan. The subdivision will include around 70 new homes (73 if I remember correctly), which I believe will be a good number for that plot of land.

The target price initially for the homes will be somewhere in the $400s. I believe this will also be good for those of us who live around the area. These will be nice homes with a great selling price for those that live around here. I believe my ranch home two blocks away will be positively affected by the prices of the new homes being built here.

I think the biggest drawback to this project for those of us who live close will be the increased traffic count. There will be entrances off of Prairie, Kingsway, and Kensington. Neighbors close to those entrances or on those streets will see an increase in traffic going by their homes.

With all the possibilities for this project, I am happy with what we have from Lennar. The type of homes and the type of community this will be are pretty close to the best we could have hoped for as neighbors. Better than a family subdivision, better than townhomes or apartments, better than commercial development or a sports complex. So overall, while I like the empty cornfield the best... this is a nice alternative that should be a net positive for our community.

I would love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to comment here or shoot me a call or email. The best way to reach me is my cell at 630.906.7266 or email dave@dave.homes.