The Normal Planning Commission on Thursday approved a new proposal related to the planned Infiniti Pointe subdivision in west Normal.
The vote was 4-2 with commission members Bob Broad and Mike Matejka voting against the changes. The recommendation will go before the Normal Town Council at its June 15 meeting.
The subdivision, located at the northwest corner of Parkside Road and Hovey Avenue, was first approved in 2023 for developer Infinitas-Parkside LLC.
The current proposal has three main points pertaining to lots 28 and 29, located on the southeast corner of the property — adjusting building height on one lot, reducing the number of parking spaces and prohibiting shared access of driveways.
When the project was first approved, some properties were limited to two stories based on their proximity to single-family homes, but since that time the town council has amended zoning code to allow a maximum of three stories in R-3A structures.
Lot 28 already was allowed to be three stories, but now the proposal is to allow the same for Lot 29. Both are planned as identical 30-multifamily units — 60 combined — with 12 two-bedroom and 18 one-bedroom units.
Krishna Balakrishnan is a developer on the project.
“It’s definitely going to be a beautiful building…and this is a first step,” he said. “Always taking the first step is a challenge…once you get the first step, hopefully the traction keeps up and we go on and complete the whole thing.”
But Broad and Matejka were not in favor of the change allowing the building on Lot 29 to expand, with Broad saying he still disagreed with the building being across from single-family homes on Parkside.
“It feels to me a little bit, if I imagine myself as one of those neighbors, as if the rules have been changed and a kind of protection that used to be offered to me as a neighbor has been removed, and I might not feel good about that,” he said.
Mercy Davison, Normal's director of planning and zoning, presented a landscaping plan from the developer that includes large trees that would make the larger building seem less overwhelming.
Broad raised concerns about how long it would take for the trees to grow.
“It seems unfair or maybe disrespectful to the neighbors across the street to the east who used to be protected from having a three-story building across the street from them and are no longer protected,” he said. “But they are protected from that, if we don’t offer a waiver.”
Other commissioners and Davison said the large width of the three-lane street, plus the setback from the road and the landscaping serve that purpose.
Balakrishnan told WGLT he hopes the town council will agree those efforts are enough.
“I hope this works for everybody because this has been a long time waiting,” he said. “We talked about it at quite lengths, trying to figure to come up with a solution for this. I really hope this works.”
As for the parking situation at the subdivision, it will now change to meet actual need, according to town staff. Normally, code would calculate 51 spaces per lot at Infiniti Pointe, but staff say 39 spaces is more realistic.
“Current code requires 1.5 parking spaces per 1- bedroom unit and two spaces per 2-bedroom unit. This presumes that half the 1-bedroom units would have two cars, that all 2-bedroom units would have two cars and that they would all be home at once,” write town staff in the commission’s report.
“This also allows the developer to leave the interior courtyard space in each building as green space rather than pavement.”
Lastly, the shared drive portion of the new proposal relates to homes on Hovey Avenue on the south side of the property. Town staff say the proposal, which creates one new access point to the lots, will avoid future disputes with the nearby homeowners.
In a case where those homeowners either cannot or will not contribute to repairs, professional management of a separate access point avoids such tension.
Balakrishnan hopes to break ground on the first phase of the project in the coming months. He also is looking for the council to grant fee waivers for the project to help development.
Battery energy storage systems
The commission also approved a recommendation to the council that would make the town one of the first municipalities in Central Illinois to regulate Battery Energy Storage Systems [BESS] on their appearance, size, noise and safety.
Certain regulations already have been approved by the state in the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act and additionally by McLean County.
BESS are one or more devices assembled together that store energy to supply electrical energy at a future time. They can store excess energy created by wind or solar generation, or the power grid and can be accessed in the event of a power outage or to supplement high demand to the current grid.
Similar zoning code regulations approved by the Normal Planning Commission are being considered by other communities, but no standards exist outside of state and county action.
Among the approved elements in the ordinance are:
- Restricting BESS to particular manufacturing district if outside.
- Restricting noise to not exceed the lowest ambient sound of nearby residential areas.
- Limiting lighting and height of structures.
- Requiring minimum lengths of structure to be set back from yards.
- Requiring compliance with National Fire Protection Association regulations.
Town staff, in the commission’s report, relate BESS installations to solar and wind, “…and present unique issues relating to aesthetics, safety, and noise. In addition, they are an important part of a safe and reliable energy system. Staff believe BESS installations can play a positive role in the community if regulated appropriately.”
This ordinance also will be brought before the town council on June 15.
