CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Concur with City staff and the prior City Council to retain the opening of Hawkweed Drive per the terms of the Polo Club annexation agreement
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: William J Novack, P.E., Director of Transportation, Engineering and Development/City Engineer
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
Hawkweed Drive is a north-south neighborhood connector roadway that was initially platted in the South Pointe subdivision in the early 2000’s. In South Pointe, Hawkweed Drive is one and a half blocks long with a northern terminus at South Pointe Park and the southern terminus that was stubbed for future connection when the Polo Club property was developed.
The South Pointe subdivision has four planned points of vehicular access; two of which are not available today. The two available access points are Champion Drive at Route 59 and Switch Grass Lane into the High Meadow subdivision. The two access points not available today are Spartina Road at Book Road and Hawkweed Drive into the Polo Club.
All development proposals the City received for the Polo Club, from both DR Horton and Pulte, showed the connection of Hawkweed Drive into the Polo Club as was originally planned. The South Pointe residents expressed their concerns and opposition to the Hawkweed connection throughout the development process for both proposals. The main concern is an increase in traffic through their neighborhood from cars cutting from westbound 119th Street to Champion and Route 59.
When the City Council approved the Pulte Polo Club development in late 2022 the annexation agreement stated that the Hawkweed connection would be constructed but that a temporary gate would be installed across the connection to ensure that construction traffic did not cut through South Pointe. The agreement also stipulated that the gate would be removed and Hawkweed would be open to all traffic after the first of the following three items occurred:
1. Completion of the Initial Development of the Polo Club, with Initial Development being defined as the first 397 residential units
2. Completion of the long-term 119th Street improvements
3. Five years from the date of the approval of the first final PUD or final subdivision plat for the Polo Club
Under New Business at the December 17, 2024 City Council meeting, Councilman Leong received support from two Council members to direct staff to revisit the opening of Hawkweed Drive.
Interested South Pointe residents are proposing an amended Hawkweed connection. The amended connection includes the following:
1. A connection of the sidewalks per the original plan
2. Physically disconnecting the roadway pavements and leaving a 20’-30’ gap in between
3. Constructing small turnarounds in the existing right-of-way near the pavement termini
4. Heavily landscaping the area between the ends of the pavement yet leaving a narrow strip of grass or turf-crete that an emergency vehicle could drive over if necessary
The interested South Pointe residents have stated that they will cover all costs associated with the amended connection proposed above.
DISCUSSION:
On February 28, 2025, the Mayor and representatives from the Police, Fire, and TED departments met with the South Pointe residents to review and discuss their proposal.
Both Police and Fire department staff stated that they do not support directing their officers and vehicles to travel over the curbs during an emergency. Both departments strongly prefer that the roadway be open and connected as currently planned.
The City has consistently taken the position of connecting neighborhoods and subdivisions. When developments are considered, staff looks for community, not separate subdivisions. Not making this connection runs counter to how Naperville was built and developed and does not support the goal of community.
Deviating from the original plan will result in a tremendous amount of adverse vehicular travel for residents and visitors to both neighborhoods. For example, a resident or visitor to a South Pointe home in the eastern portion of the neighborhood who is travelling to or from the southeast, such as Weber Road and Interstate 55, will incur one to two miles of adverse travel if this connection is not made. They will need to drive a half to one mile west on Champion Drive to Route 59, and after they go south to 119th Street they will have to drive almost a mile east to where Hawkweed and Kinney Street connect to 119th Street. That is an additional and unnecessary three to four miles per round trip.
The amended connection will also create adverse travel and affect the cost of City services, forcing snowplows, refuse and recycling trucks to drive the extra miles. Other everyday service vehicles will also be affected such as the US Postal Service, United Parcel Service, and Amazon.
City staff does not believe that the Hawkweed connection is an attractive cut-though. From 119th Street, Kinney Street heads north to northeast before a roundabout. Hawkweed is not on the opposite side of the roundabout; it is three quarters of the way around. Once a cut through vehicle reaches South Pointe it must make at least three turns before it gets onto Champion Drive. These points of disconnection and turns were intentionally placed in the South Pointe subdivision to make cut through difficult.
A neighborhood the size of South Pointe needs more than two points of access. Even though the modified connection can serve emergency vehicles, it still erodes response time. While the two points of access have not been an issue to date that staff knows of, a neighborhood of over 300 homes needs to have more than two.
The City has worked with neighborhoods throughout the City when they have concerns before a development is built. The Transportation Team works with the residents and often takes vehicular counts before and after developments are built to demonstrate the impact. Because it is a dead end today, the volumes on Hawkweed will go up. However, staff anticipates most of those vehicles to be from South Pointe and not from the Polo Club or cut through vehicles. It is staff’s belief that the volumes on the western portion of Champion Drive near Route 59 will remain close to what they are today. Any Polo Club or cut through vehicles will be offset by eastern South Pointe residents using Hawkweed to head south and east.
Recommendation
Rather than amend the Polo Club annexation agreement and change the Hawkweed connection, staff recommends following the terms approved by the prior City Council, make the connection as specified in the agreement, and measure the results after the gate has been opened. If a change is going to be made to the connection, allow that decision to be made by the future City Council who can make the decision based on actual vehicular speeds, volumes and data.
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A