Future Development in Yorkville: 5 Things Buyers Miss

How do you check future development near a home in Yorkville, Oswego, or Montgomery?

To check future development near a home, look up the zoning of the open land around it, then read your town’s current projects page and recent planning and zoning agendas for anything proposed nearby. Yorkville, Oswego, and Montgomery all post active cases online, and Oswego keeps a Development Status Map of proposed, approved, and under-construction projects. Then compare what you find with the town’s comprehensive plan, and remember that both the zoning and the plan can change after you buy.

By Kealan O’Neil | October 10, 2026

If you’re starting to look at homes in Chicago’s Western Suburbs, the farm field behind a listing is part of what you’re buying. In Kendall County that field might stay a field for years, or it might already have a plat, a concept plan, or a data center application attached to it. Future development is the question most buyers never ask until the bulldozers show up.

This isn’t a reason to avoid growing towns, which bring new roads, stores, and housing choices. It’s a reason to spend an hour on public records before you write an offer, so you know the future development around a home and can decide if it fits how you want to live.

Here’s what’s driving the question right now. The United City of Yorkville says its City Council approved six developments in 2025 and 2026 that required rezoning and didn’t match the future land use map in its 2016 Comprehensive Plan, so the city amended the plan to catch up. Oswego’s planners spent September and October reviewing a large subdivision concept on Wolfs Crossing Road. On r/ChicagoSuburbs, people moving here keep getting the same advice: check the exact address, not the town.

What “future development” really means for a buyer

When people talk about future development, they usually mean one of four things, and each one tells you something different.

• Zoning. The legal rules for what can be built on a parcel today. It’s the strongest signal, but towns can rezone land after a public hearing.
• The comprehensive plan. A town’s long-range vision, usually shown on a future land use map. It’s a guide, not a promise, and towns amend it.
• Active applications. A rezoning, special use, planned unit development (PUD), or plat that a developer has filed. These tell you what someone wants to build now.
• Approved plats and agreements. Land that already has approvals, sometimes from many years ago. These are the closest thing to a sure bet.

Check all four before you judge future development near a home. A field zoned for agriculture with no application on file is a very different situation from a field with an approved final plat waiting on a builder.

5 things buyers miss about future development in Kendall County

None of these should scare you off a home. They’re the gaps between what a listing shows and what the public record already says about future development.

1. Residential zoning doesn’t guarantee homes next door

Many buyers see “residential” on a zoning map and assume the future development question is settled. In Yorkville, the city’s own project page for Project Steel describes a request to rezone about 540 acres across 16 parcels from R-1 Single-Family Suburban Residence District to M-2 General Manufacturing District for a data center campus east of Eldamain Road, between Corneils Road and Galena Road. The City Council has since approved it.

That’s the lesson for future development anywhere in Illinois: zoning is a starting point, not a forever answer. Illinois law lets a town amend its zoning by ordinance after a hearing before a designated commission or committee, with notice published in a local newspaper 15 to 30 days ahead, according to 65 ILCS 5/11-13-14.

The same statute gives neighbors a real tool. If owners of 20% of the frontage proposed to be altered, or 20% of the frontage immediately adjoining or directly opposite it, file a signed written protest, the amendment needs a two-thirds vote of the town’s aldermen or trustees to pass. It’s worth knowing before you buy, not after.

2. Old approvals can still get built

Some of the future development you’ll see near a listing was approved long before the current sellers moved in. Yorkville’s project page for Grande Reserve Units 10B and 11B describes a final plat for 154 residential lots on about 20 acres east of Kennedy Road and south of the BNSF railroad. The city notes those lots are the final stage of what was originally planned as a 42-acre, 312-unit townhome project.

When land already has an approved plan or annexation agreement, a new City Council may have limited room to change it. So if a home backs up to open land inside an established subdivision, ask whether that land is a future phase. The original plat, not the current view, tells you what’s coming.

3. The plan can change after the field is rezoned

A comprehensive plan feels official, and it is, but it bends. Yorkville’s Current Projects and Public Hearings page links to case PZC 2026-01, where the city explains that six recently approved developments were inconsistent with the 2016 plan’s land use designations, so the future land use map had to be amended to match them.

In plain terms, the plan followed the rezonings, not the other way around. If you check future development using only a comprehensive plan map, check its date and whether any amendments are pending. A designation from years ago may not reflect what the City Council has approved since.

The same goes for scale. Yorkville’s page for the CyrusOne CHI-11 campus describes an amendment that cut the plan from nine two-story buildings to eight one-story buildings on about 228 acres, lowering the maximum height from 70 feet to about 50 feet 10 inches while raising site coverage from about 28% to about 50%. Future development plans get revised in both directions, so read the newest documents.

4. The seller disclosure won’t tell you

Buyers often assume the seller has to mention a planned subdivision or warehouse down the road. Illinois doesn’t work that way. The disclosure report in 765 ILCS 77/35 asks about material defects in the property itself, like the roof, basement, plumbing, radon, and boundary disputes. It defines “aware” as actual knowledge without any specific investigation.

There’s no line on that form for nearby future development. If you want to understand what the form does cover, our guide to the Illinois seller disclosure report walks through it. For future development next door, the research is on you and your agent.

5. The land next door may answer to a different government

A field across the road can sit in unincorporated Kendall County, inside a village, or in the middle of an annexation request. That matters, because different maps apply. Kendall County’s open data zoning layer covers unincorporated Kendall County, Millbrook, and Plattville, so a county map won’t show city zoning in Yorkville, Oswego, or Montgomery.

Towns also reach past their borders. The Village of Oswego says its Planning and Zoning Commission advises the Village Board on land use matters within the village and within its one and one-half mile jurisdiction outside village limits. On its October 8, 2026 hearing list, Oswego included a request at the southwest corner of Plainfield Road and Schlapp Road for rezoning upon annexation and a special use permit for a utility-scale ground-mounted solar energy system with battery storage.

Infrastructure counts as future development too. IDOT announced in July 2024 a $32.9 million reconstruction of more than 4 miles of Illinois 71 from Orchard Road in Oswego to Illinois 126 in Yorkville, taking it from two lanes to four with a raised median, and scheduled it for completion in late 2026. Work like that changes traffic and access for years, and the same goes for utility projects like the Lake Michigan water switch.

How to check future development near a home you tour

You can research future development from your couch in about an hour. Here’s the order I’d use.

1. Map the open land. Note every vacant parcel, farm field, or wooded lot within a few blocks of the home, plus any frontage on a major road.
2. Find the current zoning. Use the town’s official zoning map for land inside city or village limits. Montgomery’s official zoning map, for example, shows an updated version approved March 9, 2026. Use the Kendall County GIS viewer for unincorporated land.
3. Read the current projects page. Yorkville posts proposed projects and hearing dates on its Current Projects page. Oswego lists hearings on its Public Hearings and Current Projects page and links its Development Status Map there.
4. Scan recent agendas and minutes. Concept plans show up here before they become formal applications. Montgomery’s May 7, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission minutes, for example, cover a DR Horton concept plan for single-family homes on land bounded by Gordon Road, US Route 30, Dickson Road, and the ComEd right-of-way.
5. Open the project documents. Yorkville’s Project Steel page includes sound studies, a traffic impact study, and building elevations. That’s where you’ll see heights, setbacks, access points, and construction phasing.
6. Check the comprehensive plan and its amendments. Compare the future land use map with recent amendments to see which way the town is leaning.
7. Call the planning department. Ask staff, “Is anything filed or expected on the parcels around this address?” They get this question often.

Questions buyers ask about future development near a home

Know what’s planned before you fall for the view

Every growing town in Kendall County has open land, and that’s part of what makes it a good place to find newer homes and more space. The goal isn’t to find a house with nothing around it. It’s to understand the future development around it so the view, the traffic, and the construction schedule don’t surprise you after closing. If you’re comparing homes, our post on new construction vs. resale in Yorkville is another good place to start.

If you’re just starting to look and want a second set of eyes on future development around a home you’re considering, I’m happy to talk it through, with no pressure and no commitment. I live and work here and track these meetings every month. Call or text Kealan at 630-425-8815.

About Kealan O’Neil
Kealan O’Neil is the Designated Managing Broker and founder of O’Neil Property Group, an independent real estate brokerage based in Yorkville, Illinois. He and his team help buyers and sellers in Yorkville, Oswego, Montgomery, and the surrounding Kendall and Kane County communities, and he owns and manages a local rental portfolio, so he approaches every decision as both a broker and an investor. Call or text Kealan at 630-425-8815.

This post is general information about real estate in the Fox Valley, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Real estate laws, tax rules, and municipal ordinances change, and how they apply depends on your specific situation. Talk with a licensed attorney, CPA, or lender before making decisions about a purchase, sale, or tax matter. O’Neil Property Group is a licensed Illinois real estate brokerage.