Village must approve own special use permits
The village owned acreage has been divided into four outlots. The PACE park-n-ride facility will be situated in the northern most outlot, with a P3 development plan for the additional lots.
By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
The Village Board will consider approvals in July for permits on municipal owned properties.
In what may appear to be redundant, the village itself was the applicant for a zoning change to village-owned land along Van Dyke Road, which went before the Plan Commission on June 19.
While the full board has already made plans to develop the site, the village is still required by law to follow the same planning and zoning requirements as any other person or businesses looking to develop.
In May, trustees signed off on a development agreement between the village and Northern Builders, Inc., of Schiller Park, to develop more than 50 acres of property next to the new park-n-ride facility, currently under construction.
The agreement with Northern Builders creates a public-private partnership (P3) with the intent to encourage new development on the property, while also putting in place plans to build a new Plainfield Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) building at the property on Van Dyke and Wood Farm Roads.
“The intent of the PUD is to provide some flexibility with regard to the use [of the property] that can be incorporated into the future use of the business park. Specifically, B3 uses. After reviewing the table of uses, there were no [industrial] uses identified to incorporate into it,” explained Economic Development Manager Jake Melrose.
The village worked with Northern Builders to exclude some industrial uses at the site, including freight terminal, junk yard, and religious assembly.
The special use and rezoning of the property went before the plan commission, but there were questions before the commission gave the thumbs up.
Specifically, commissioners asked if it was appropriate or legal for the village to ban religious assembly and/or institution.
“There are certain zoning districts where it can be prohibited, we just can’t prohibit it in all zoning districts,” explained Director of Planning Jonathan Proulx.
Proulx noted that if something is identified as being allowed as a special use, it is assumed it is appropriate. If it is identified as prohibited, then there is a presumption that it is not appropriate.
But either way, a religious assembly would be able to approach the village for a special use permit, or the agreement could be altered to no longer list religious assembly as prohibited.
Commissioners questioned if the village is in need of space for certain uses.
“At one point it was suggested that we have too much industrial property on our hands, nobody was leasing it, nobody was buying it. And then we saw certain industrial properties that were being converted to religious use or some other use, typically by special use,” said Commissioner Dan Seggebruch. “So now, have we finally burned through our inventory of those kinds of property and are we looking for somewhere where we can develop those uses again?”
Staff noted that there is a gap when it comes to need for smaller industrial and business facilities, because most industrial sites available in the village are large scale.
There were no comments on the application during the public hearing.
The recommendation will be forwarded to the full board for approval.
The village will next come through the plan commission with the site plan and final plat process.