Plans for a mixed-use development on Orchard Road, which saw pushback for including a gas station, have gotten early approval from the Aurora City Council.
The project, planned for the corner of Orchard and Sullivan roads in Aurora, is set to include 10 acres of townhouses and 11 acres of commercial development. Within the commercial area is planned a QuikTrip gas station, a day care center and a mix of restaurants, both casual and full-service.
Although the project will still need further approvals for more concrete site plans in the future, the Aurora City Council on Tuesday voted 10–2 to rezone the nearly 30-acre property to accommodate the development. Voting against were Alds. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, and Keith Larson, at-large.
Mesiacos said at Tuesday’s meeting that he supported the recommendation of city staff, which was to approve all of the project except for the gas station.
The city has been working with the land owner and Kane County for many years to bring high-end commercial development to this area, a vision that might be hindered by the gas station, Aurora Senior Planner Jill Morgan said at past meetings.
City staff’s recommendation in favor of the project generally but against the gas station was also made as an effort to strike a balance between economic development and goals laid out in the city’s 2019 sustainability plan, according to Aurora Chief Development Services Officer John Curley.
Representatives of developer GTZ have said at recent meetings that the project cannot move forward without the gas station, as QuikTrip is paying for needed infrastructure improvements to the site.
Developers have been working with city staff on the project for a couple of years, but this summer was the first time developers were told that city staff didn’t want a gas station there, said the attorney representing those proposing the project, John Philipchuck, at a meeting of the Aurora City Council’s Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee on Nov. 26.
The development is more than just the gas station, which makes up only 2.8 acres of the site, he said at the time.
The parts of the project that city staff are in favor of, which is everything but the gas station, include a speculated six commercial buildings that might include restaurants with drive-thrus, a sit-down restaurant and a day care.
Discussions are already happening with companies that may occupy those spots, with some deal terms already set for Panda Express and Kiddie Academy, according to Jeremy Forman of GTZ Properties.
Talks are also ongoing with residential developers to build an anticipated 60–70 townhouses on the 10 acres to the north of the property, which is the side closest to the interstate, Forman said at last week’s City Council Committee of the Whole meeting.
Entrances to the site are planned for both Orchard Road and Sequoia Drive.
The QuikTrip convenience store is expected to be nearly 6,500 square feet and be the company’s latest model, according to Skyler Evans, the project manager for QuikTrip. Outside are planned 10 gas pumps, two with auto diesel, along with 50 parking spaces, he said at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
The gas pumps don’t play music or have any video screens, Evans said, and the diesel pumps aren’t suitable for tractor trailers.
In addition to opposition from city staff, the QuikTrip gas station also faced pushback from the public and Kane County Board member Mavis Bates, who represents this area.
Bates has argued, at the meeting Tuesday and at past meetings, that the gas station would be bad for the environment, public health, economic development and quality of life.
In particular, she said the gas station could harm ecosystems through runoff that gets into local waterways and could pollute groundwater because of leaks in underground storage tanks. Plus, the land would be condemned, she said, since cleanup is expensive.
According to Evans, QuikTrip uses double-walled underground storage tanks and pipes, along with sensors, to mitigate underground leaks. Plus, the company has agreed to demolish and clean up the site if the gas station or convenience store are ever shut down, Aurora Senior Planner Morgan said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Ald. Larson said he wasn’t in favor of the current zoning of the site, since it allows warehouses and data centers, and that this development seemed better than those alternatives. However, he also wished it could go forward without the gas station, he said.
A gas station may not align with the city’s sustainability plan, but that’s just one piece of the project, said Ald. Will White, at-large. Plus, the developer seems open to exploring what sustainability looks like within the project, which is a better option than voting it down and leaving it up to chance who will end up developing the property in the future, White said.
GTZ Properties had previously agreed to add electric vehicle charging stations to the development’s commercial area.
Other aldermen questioned city staff’s recommendation against the gas station because of sustainability goals, considering the fact that city staff recommended the approval of another gas station by the same company earlier this year.
That QuikTrip gas station, which was not part of a larger development, was approved by the Aurora City Council in April. It is set to be located on the southeast corner of Eola Road and Diehl Road, which is across the street from the CyrusOne data center and a short ways away from Metea Valley High School.
Aurora Chief Development Services Officer John Curley said that staff are trying to work with the city’s sustainability committee, which brought to staff’s attention that the city wasn’t meeting some of the goals from the 2019 plan. Staff are now highlighting those goals, he said, since there’s now an opportunity.
Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, said she followed what Curley had said, but that she was “not buying it.”
“You might be in a hard position,” she said. “But you also have to know you’re putting us in a very difficult position.”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com