Huntley residents and Board of Trustees share concerns over Catty property redevelopment conceptual plans

HUNTLEY – At the Dec. 2 Huntley Village Board meeting, True North Properties, Inc. came before the board to present their most current proposal for the Catty property, which would include the renovation and re-use of the existing building with 37 total studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, and the construction of five new three-flat rental unit buildings bringing that total up to 52 proposed units.

Despite True North Properties making some changes to their plans from when they first presented in front of the board on Sep. 9, some residents like Eric Crush were less than impressed upon seeing the rendered images of what’s to come for the Catty property.

“I can understand that we need apartments in our town…but is this the right spot for it? I don’t know, and if you’re going to take all that time to preserve the building, why not be able to see that building for what it is. It is a pretty cool piece of property,” said Crush. “It’s an old brick structure. You build five three flats in front of it, you’re not going to see crap…I think we’re packing a little bit too much in a small spot.”

Residents also expressed concerns about parking, to which Village Manager Dave Johnson responded that while they are still in the early stages of reviewing parking requirements and layouts, the village anticipates about 40-50% of the parking needed for the proposed project to be accommodated on site.

“When the developer makes a formal zoning application, we will expect that it will include a request for relief from the village’s zoning code to supplement the on-site spaces. Residents of the development would need to utilize public parking options,” said Johnson. “The village is considering, as you know, improvements to the Church Street lot north of the property that would increase off-street parking options available to Catty property residents and the general public…We’ve been working with our consulting engineer to develop design options for the public parking lot.”

Mayor Tim Hoeft followed up on Johnson’s statement by asking the petitioners if they would be willing to reduce the number of proposed rental unit buildings from five to four to better accommodate parking needs.

Additionally, many of the trustees shared their disappointment at the lack of Victorian-style elements, such as arched windows, in the digital rendering.

“It disturbs me that the buildings in front are going to hide the Catty Building and destroy the view and I know that when you were here [last time], I mentioned Glenview and the Victorian style row houses. This is kind of a shock because this is so modernistic,” Trustee Ronda Goldman said to the petitioners.

In addition to echoing Goldman’s statement, Trustee Niko Kanakaris also proposed a phased redevelopment approach, in which the Catty Building would be worked on first to get it ready for occupancy, and based on the success of that, True North Properties can then construct the four three-flat unit buildings to accommodate growing tenant interest.

Johnson made it a point to tell the board that a phased construction plan would not financially benefit Huntley due to the Catty Building’s lack of significant increment within Huntley’s tax increment financing (TIF) used to offset the village’s nearly $3 million in costs associated with renovating the downtown area.

“In this early stage based on when the Catty property went on the tax rolls as part of the TIF, the value of that property is higher than the village would like to see. So, in order to create increment ultimately that could be used to offset some of the village’s costs for these improvements that have a greater value, from a financial increment perspective, is likely those row homes or the homes on Church Street,” said Johnson. “What happens is the TIF expires in 2036 so the longer that that gets pushed out, the less opportunity to capture dollars that could be generated in the increment.”

True North Properties ultimately agreed to consider the board’s suggestions and will work to create a new rendering of the proposed Catty property redevelopment; however, no decisions were expected to be made at the Dec. 2 meeting.

As an added point, Hoeft recommended for village staff and True North Properties to hold a neighborhood meeting to hear the opinions from residents living near the Catty property, though there was no actual date announced of when that meeting will take place.

The Catty property (11117 South Church Street) was purchased by the village in 2017 and has been identified as part of Huntley’s “Downtown Revitalization Plan” as a future redevelopment site suited for multi-family residential use.

According to Johnson, True North Properties is willing to set aside a potential unit for a train station if that were to ever arrive in Huntley.

True North Properties was responsible for the redevelopment of a 126-year-old Crystal Lake building that was the former site of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, converting the 9,100 square-foot former church and its adjacent 38,000 square-foot church school building into apartment units as it plans to do with the Catty property.