The DeKalb City Council met in a special session Tuesday night to discuss a proposed 458-acre development project slated to add more than 1,300 housing units to the city.

The project, which centers around the creation of the Irongate of DeKalb subdivision, is a multi-purpose development plan that includes more than 1,300 single family homes, 450 senior living units, a 6-acre retail area, two properties for churches, and an elementary school.

The site of the proposed plan is an area south of Bethany Road that surrounds DeKalb High School on three sides.

The area, while part of DeKalb County, is not within the jurisdiction of the city. Therefore, annexation is required for any development to receive city water, electricity and maintenance. The City Council members said they were working toward an annexation agreement that would satisfy both the city and the developer.

The NIU Center for Governmental Studies, which was hired to compile a comprehensive DeKalb-wide housing survey beginning last year, presented a preliminary findings report to the Council. The report showed a surplus of available rental units, an over supply of housing priced under $250,000 and a deficiency in housing priced greater than $250,000. Housing in the proposed Irongate subdivision would start at $250,000 a unit.

The Council spent more than three hours discussing every aspect of the proposed project.

Consensus, though not in a formal vote, was only reached on three topics: no traditional apartments would be allowed in Irongate, a minimal amount of townhomes is preferred by the Council, and Normal Road must be extended north to Bethany Road.

Sixth ward alderman David Baker spoke about the troubles that this project has created.

“I’ve been doing this for 12 years and I’m also a developer myself, so I understand the frustrations involved,” Baker said. “I think the developer is frustrated because over the many years that they have been trying to come up with a plan, every time they present the plan that they think was what they were directed to come up with…they hear different ideas.”

Baker also discussed the state of the housing market in DeKalb. Baker said that NIU students living on campus could potentially cut into Irongate’s market with regard to the proposed townhomes.

“I think the one thing that echoed quite clearly is that we want Normal Road to continue on to Bethany—that is no question—and we don’t need any more rental units,” Baker said. “The Center for Governmental Studies clearly indicated what we thought to be true, that there are an overload of rental units in the community, especially with NIU bringing online Gilbert [Hall] next year. The fact that there’s a few thousand more rental units than could be absorbed from the NIU community, we certainly don’t want to put anything more that could end up rental in convenient proximity to the university. There’s plenty of choices right now.”

David Patzelt, president of the ShoDeen Group, the developers behind the project, said the meeting did not live up to his expectations and he wants the project to begin as soon as possible.

“It was a long meeting,” Patzelt said. “I thought that I would have heard more decision or more consensus from councilmen, but it appeared to me there was a lot of indecisiveness or inability to make decisions and all agree on a point.”

City Manager Mark Biernacki said the developers will now submit a new proposal based around the conversations from the meeting.

“Well, there were a lot of points of disagreement and I think we’ve drawn consensus on most of them,” Biernacki said. “The developer is now instructed to return with revisions. I think there are still a couple points we do not have consensus on, well have to try to work that out with some other alternatives or ideas.”

A public hearing regarding the Irongate development will take place on Feb. 25 at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St.