Oswego trustees to look at plan for former Traughber site

The Oswego Village Council will consider a revised concept plan Tuesday evening with fewer housing units for the former Traughber High School site in the village.

The development is proposed for a 12.34-acre property – owned by Oswego-based School District 308 – on the northeast corner of Route 71 and Washington Street, relatively close to downtown Oswego.

The site includes the former Traughber High School building, which would be razed as part of the proposed development.

Village trustees are scheduled to meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Oswego village hall, 100 Parkers Mill.

JM Development – ​​a joint venture – initially submitted a proposal to the Oswego Planning and Zoning Commission regarding the project. However, the commission recommended the project be denied due to the density of housing in the proposed development.

Oswego officials said the developer has since modified the concept plan based on public comments before submitting the proposal to the village council, which has final say on the project.

The total number of units was reduced from 239 to 202, and the number of five-story buildings was reduced from two to one, Rod Zenner, Oswego’s director of development services, said in a report to trustees.

Additionally, the amount of open space in the proposed project was increased from 1.55 acres to 3.53 acres and walking trails were increased from 0.6 miles to 2.37 miles, and the total number of trees in the proposed development increased by 40 percent, Zenner said.

Staff is awaiting direction from village board members on the conceptual plan for the proposed project, called Traughber Estates. Staff members are seeking advice on whether they should be allowed to begin negotiating a redevelopment agreement between the village, Oswego-based School District 308 and the project developer.

The site is in the village’s tax increment financing district, Zenner said.

“School District 308 has requested the village join a tripartite redevelopment agreement with the petitioner to help convey the property and share the distribution of the TIF increase generated by the project,” Zenner said in his report.

District 308 moved Traughber students to a new building several years ago. Since then, the site has been used for certain school activities. The old Traughber School was once home to the YMCA and the Oswego Senior Center.

School District 308 has marketed the property over the years. Several potential buyers were interested in repurposing the site, including Resurrection Church of the Fox Valley in 2019, which has a storefront church near the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora.

However, it was determined that the cost of the proposal would have been prohibitive given the condition of the existing structure on the site and the need for improvements, including a fire protection sprinkler system and fire hydrants.

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.