A new 458-acre housing development project is set to be discussed at a special meeting of the DeKalb City Council at 6 p.m. today.

The Council met Monday for its regular bi-monthly meeting, during which it passed an overhaul of the city’s liquor code and moved forward on the creation of two new TIF districts.

The Council also announced a public hearing for the construction of the proposed Irongate of DeKalb subdivision; the hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25. The hearing will allow for citizen comments and questions to be heard by the Council in regard to the development project.

Irongate is currently a multi-purpose development plan that will include over 1,300 single family homes or townhouses, 450 senior living units, two designated church properties and a 6-acre retail area, according to a report submitted to the Council for review ahead of today’s meeting.

First ward alderman David Jacobson said the development is scheduled to take more than 20 years to reach completion.

“This project has been in and out of the planning stages for years,” Jacobson said.

The project is currently slated to be contained in the area south of Bethany Road, north of DeKalb High School on Dresser Road, east of Annie Glidden Road and west of N. First Street. The development is still early in the planning stages as the city is still in the process of annexing the land that will be used for development.

When the project was first proposed in late 2011, project developer ShoDeen Inc. had proposed an extension of Normal Road to intersect with Bethany Road in order to accommodate for the Irongate project. That extension may still be included in the final design plans, according to the review report. Pride Drive, which borders DeKalb High School’s eastern edge, would also be extended to Bethany Road in the current development proposal.

The Irongate area will have to be annexed by the city of DeKalb as part of the development agreement. The area is currently not within the city’s jurisdiction, meaning any developments would not be able to be serviced by city water, electricity or maintenance.

The progress of this project depends partially on the results of the city wide housing survey, which is being conducted by NIU’s Center for Governmental Studies. A set of preliminary results of that survey are expected to be presented to the Council during today’s meeting, Jacobson said.