Planning & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. [Music] Danny [Music] N. like to call to order the uh August 4th, 2025 session of the city of Elgen Planning and Zoning Commission. Look to staff to please call the role.

Present. Commissioner Jones here. Commissioner Valdez present. Commissioner Wildermouth here. And Chairman Cox present. We have a quorum. Excellent. Uh, next item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from our July 7th session. Is there any comments or corrections? Hearing none, the chair will entertain a motion. Move to approve. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second it. Staff, please call the role. Commissioner Jones, yes. Commissioner Valdez, yes. Commissioner Abali, yes. Commissioner Wildermouth, yes. And Chairman Cox, yes. minutes approved five to zero.

Great. Well, thanks everyone for hanging with us as we do a little bit of housekeeping and get the meeting started off right and get things orderly. Appreciate that uh patience there. Uh now is the opportunity for me to welcome all of you here tonight. Um if see a variety of new faces here, so I appreciate that. Um we are already to August. I can't believe it. We're we're you know over the hump for the year. Um, but it's good we still have business on the agenda. We've got three that we're going to hear about tonight. Um, but the biggest thing that I wanted to discuss since we do have so many new faces is just kind of a an overview of the commission and and how we work. We are a recommending body to city council. So, everything that we hear tonight, all the discussions we have, the questions we have, all feed into that process. Uh, some of you, if you're the petitioner team, may be already working with city staff. You've kind of been briefed on a lot of this as you develop your packet. For those of you here tonight to comment or ask questions on the petitions, um it's important to know that we open and close the public hearing portion of each of these petitions. If you've got questions or comments, got to come on up to the lect turn and and um and weigh in. That's a important part of the process. And we as a commission very much take to heart what we hear as part of our decision-making process um with these petitions. um which again we we start with uh city staff. They'll go through their staff report. We have it um you know emailed to us and it's posted on the city website as well. But staff will go through the highlight of their report. Uh we as a commission will ask questions if we have any. Then we u bring the petitioner on up to the lecternum and if you're here from that team that's your time to shine. Uh tell us your thoughts. uh highlight anything that um you'd like to um bring up. The city staff may or may not have or if there's additional information, we'd

love to hear that. If you're again on that petitioner team, that's the time that we as a commission will ask questions of you. Uh once that's done, you can take your seat and we open the petition up to public comment. So, if you're if you're here again, that's your that's your time to come on up and and uh to tell us your thoughts. Following that, we close a public hearing portion. We look back to staff for any final comments. If there's any been any discussion or anything they'd like to make a final comment on, um they can weigh in. Then we as a commission will uh deliberate and and vote on these petitions. And again, if um if these are um approved and moved forward, uh staff will be your continuing agent on that. There's typically a couple of city council meetings that the petitions will be heard at and um staff will tell you what those dates are. So again, um very happy to see many of you here tonight. And the next item on the agenda is the uh administration of the oath. If you're going to be testifying tonight, if you could please stand and uh face the court reporter. And as I always say, even if you think you might, please please stand and and be sworn. And it doesn't hurt to be sworn in. It uh keeps things moving later.

Will you raise your hands, please? Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you. All right. Thank you very much for that. We're going to move on to petitions to be considered. Uh that's item F on our agenda. And the first one is a conditional use that's been continued uh for 215 DuPage Street. uh look to staff for comments on that petition.

Thank you, Chairman Cox. And just to uh remind everyone, the applicant has submitted a memorandum or an email, I should say, to staff officially withdrawing the application for that uh downtown food truck park at 215 DuPage Street. uh they've indicated that they will continue with the temporary use arrangement that they have received approval for which goes through August 11th is the last day that they have the temp use and it appears they will um reassess and uh figure out what they want to do next and perhaps apply again in the future but for now this is withdrawn and so no further action is needed from the planning and zoning commission. Okay, with that we can move on to the second item on the agenda for 1001 North Randa Road, petition 19-25. It looks like the slide deck is loaded, so Deir, please take it away.

Thank you, Chairman Cox. And for the record, we have provided the required notices on this one uh tonight. Good evening, everyone. So this uh second petition uh tonight is the application by Brilliant Subaru as applicant and Kain Holdings LLC as the property owner who requesting a conditional use to establish a parking lot more specifically overflow parking for Brilliant Subaru Motor Vehicle Dealer on the property that's commonly known as 1001 North Randle Road. Let's try this. My screen is different than the one up on top. So bear with me for one moment. All right, there we go. As usual, we'll start with the site location of the property. The subject lot, the also known as Russo lot, 10001 north of Randall Road, is outlined in red. It's a 12.8 acre property that is, as you can see, located on the east side of Randall Road, generally between Royal Boulevard on the south and uh Fletcher Drive on the north. It's part of a multi- building and multi multi-propy shopping center that was formerly occupied by Walmart and anchored by Walmart store. However, after Walmart moved uh a few years later, Russo took over the property, the existing building at 10001 North Randall. Uh the property is now zone PAB, planned area business district that was established in two uh 2012,

excuse me, 2022 when the city approved the establishment of Starbucks outlot that is right here still under construction. This is a early 2025 photograph. As you can see, the properties to the north and south and to the east all have the same red shade over them. They're all zoned same commercial PAB or AB district. Uh to the north, uh right here is the the learning experience daycare center. Uh these are the a multi multi-tenant building that includes a liquor store, Bumblebee Play Cafe, and a Duet Dance Academy among others. Uh to the south is the Home Depot property across Royal Boulevard. To the east are one-story multi-off buildings. This is a multi-tenant building at the northeast corner of Randall and Royal Boulevard. And like I said, this is the Starbucks outlot under construction. And here's a bird's eye view of all of that. Uh the the Russo building is about 120,000 square feet. Includes two tenants, Russo uh power equipment, and then Atley's headquarters immediately north of Russo. Generally in this area, they take up about 15,000 square feet. The property also includes a total of 628 parking spaces. And so Russo is excuse me, uh, Subaru is proposing to use 74 parking spaces within the parking lot as their overflow parking. Brilliant Subaru dealership is located along North Randall Road, approximately one mile to the north. Common address 1500 North Randall Road. Uh the subject property as I said has 628 parking spaces after the Starbucks completion. Uh 97 parking

spaces were taken for outdoor display for Russo product out here. And then uh that leaves 531 parking spaces available. As you can see very few of the of those parking spaces are occupied. Uh however, the zoning ordinance requires a total of 418 parking spaces just for Russo because of the size of the of the retail store, 104,000 square feet. And then the athletes headquarters, which is a an indoor youth sports training facility, they're required to have 39 parking spaces. With that, only 74 parking spaces are sort of a surplus and are not required by the zoning ordinance. and those are the ones that Brilliant Subaru is requesting to lease. Um, in reality, as you can see, uh, many more parking spaces are available during any time of the day and week and therefore there would be no issues with the parking availability on site. Those parking spaces would not be marked in any any specific way. Uh the the parking spaces that will be leased are the ones that are immediately adjacent to and east of this internal drive aisle that kind of goes uh behind Starbucks and connects to the drive aisle behind the learning experience. This annual uh lease agreement could also be terminated should there be an issue with parking availability in the future. proposed development is required to so I should elaborate that a typically a parking lot use is allowed as accessory to any business that's on the property. However, use of a parking lot such as this by a tenant that's not on the subject property requires this type of conditional use approval. So, I just wanted to clarify that. So, the proposal requires uh compliance with the standards for conditional use. We have provided that overview in the packet and we do believe that all applicable

standards are satisfied and staff recommends approval subject to the conditions in the packet. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Uh the applicants team's here. They can answer any questions as well. Sounds good. I'll start on my left. Commissioner Abaly, questions for staff. No questions. Thank you. Commissioner Jones, no questions. Thank you. Commissioner Valdez, no questions. Commissioner Wermouth, no questions for staff.

I only had one and you answered it in your By the way, this is here because um appreciate you mentioning that as well. Just brings that for the record for those who might be wondering. It's a parking lot or parking cars. Why do we need to talk about it? So, I appreciate you you enumerating that. All right. With that, we'll invite the petitioner team to come on up. And um for everyone here tonight, if you're going to come on up to the lectern and um please tell us your name, spell it for the court reporter, give us your address, and then tell us your thoughts. Sure. Uh thank you. My name is Jim Duga. That's spelled D A L U GA and I'm the general manager at Brilliant Subaru.

Thank you. Uh so yeah, so just wanted to take the uh a couple minutes to uh to thank you guys for uh allowing us the opportunity to have this hearing so that we could uh basically as you said use the parking lot to to park some overflow uh primarily new car inventory uh and uh single year 2024 certified pre-owned vehicles down at the lot. Um the um Subaru is going to make some manufacturing changes coming coming up here in the uh fourth quarter. They're going to move their Outback production from Indiana to Japan and they're going to move Forester production from Japan to Indiana. As a result, our new car allocations will be significantly reduced. So, uh during the fourth quarter, I would anticipate that we would have as few as maybe 15 or 20 cars there. uh that might kick up a little bit in the first quarter of 2026 as that's sort of our slow season, but I I would not anticipate that we would really get too close to having or needing the full 74 spots.

Was there anything else or we'll ask? Not really. The only other comment would be that that that uh there's really uh not a lot of ingress and egress for us to go down to that lot. So there might be one or two movements of vehicles per day. So there wouldn't be a lot of vehicular traffic and or foot traffic. So that's pretty much it. Appreciate that. All right. This time I'll start on my right. Commissioner Welder with questions for this gentleman. Uh yeah, you kind of answer my question, but so are you then taking the like are you is your staff driving the that inventory there or is it like a you know a sh like a semi?

Oh, no. No, no, no. It's No, it's it's all it's all dealership employees. There would be no customers that would be on the lot. It would just be dealerships just picking up cars to show customers. Okay. No other questions. Commissioner Valdez, are there going to be any showings of cars to potential clients? Not on that lot. No, that's all I have. Commissioner Jones, just out of curiosity, how did this partnership come to fruition with a parking lot a mile down the road?

Uh, we had a uh the the gentleman that actually the realtor that actually helped us find the the piece of property that we built the dealership on um is very active in the Elgen area. So, he introduced us to the folks at Russo. Okay. Nice. That's a great great partnership. Thank you. Sure. Thank you, Commissioner Bali. Seems pretty simple. No questions. Okay, sounds good.

I only had a a quick question for you and being that I was on the commission when we approved the original dealership. Um, it seemed there were a lot of seemed like there were a lot of gymnastics to retain one really old tree. I I was I was a fan of I love trees. woodworker, you know, hobby and all that stuff, but I was always like, this just made that lot. So, you have to do gymnastics in order to display and move vehicles around if if that tree wasn't a factor in that earlier petition in your opinion, would you have room for these 74 vehicles on site or would you still We probably would have enough space.

Okay. Uh but we we actually we we took that tree and we created a dog park which when the pandemic hit and we were pretty slow, we started to market that and it's we have a partnership with Anderson Humane and South Elgen and it's just turned into an amazing partnership and the dog park gets used all the time. So worked out pretty well. No, and I credit you for turning that into a feature and and using it that way. So, I was just curious. Um, in my mind, it was one of those cut it down and do the parking lot, but I understand the ordinances are in place and it was approved as as it was, but just kind of I'm bringing it up more for like a a learning experience for the city of Elgen than because it is what it is at this point. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. All right. I don't have any other questions for you that bear on this petition.

Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Appreciate it. All right. As promised, we'll open this petition up to public comment. If you're here for this petition, now's your opportunity to come on up. Well, this is an auction, so I'll say going once closed. Thank you. Uh, look back to city staff. Nothing further to addition. Very good. With that, the chair will entertain a motion for this petition, which is 19-25.

I move to recommend that city council approved petition 19-25 subject to the conditions outlined within our packet and to adopt as the findings of the commissions those findings also provided within our packet. Thank you. Is there a second? A second. The motion. Staff, please call the role. Commissioner Abuali, yes. Commissioner Jones, yes. Commissioner Valdez, yes. Commissioner Wildermouth, yes. And Chairman Cox, yes. Motion is approved five to zero.

That's a recommendation to city council. Thanks for coming tonight. Moving on to the third petition at 633 East Chicago Street, petition 21-25. And while staff's doing the reset here, I still remember when this was the 7-Eleven on East Chicago Street. So, if that's dating myself and Commissioner Jones also remembers it. There is a fun fact about that that probably the owner can elaborate. Uh but I'll let them explain the unique circumstances that led to that sale and the restrictions that they have on the property because of that.

Love to hear it. Yeah.

So what makes it fun to be on the commission? So this uh last petition before you is the application by Gerardo Pina as applicant uh and Shukri Monier Jibawi as property owner who are requesting a conditional use to establish a physical fitness facility more specifically a wrestling and boxing gym within the existing one-story commercial building on the property commonly known as 633 East Chicago Street. We'll start with the overhead aerial map again. the subject property outlined in red. It is at the southwest corner of East Chicago Street and Preston Avenue on the city's east side. It is zoned RB, residents business district, which is the smallest business business district that we have in the city that's um usually surrounded by residential areas and has quite a few restrictions in terms of number of uses that can go there because of the proximity to residential areas. But as you can see, the properties along this stretch of East Chicago Street are also zoned in this RB residence business district, but all those properties are single family homes or homes that have been converted to multi-units, so duplexes and three-unit buildings. And then to the south is the RC2 residence conservation district with single family homes, um, which are actually single family homes. Here is the bird's eye view looking south. Subject property surrounded by the parking lot. The the building uh the existing building is approximately 2,400 square ft. It's a one-story commercial building currently vacant. Uh the parking lot includes 16 parking spaces. There are two access driveways, both full access driveways, one to Chicago, one to Preston Avenue. In the past, the city has approved a

conditional use for a physical fitness facility most recently in uh June of 2023, excuse me, of October 2020. And that uh fitness facility, which was a a fitness and dance studio, lasted until about June of 2023. per the zoning ordinance. Once a conditional use like that is established and then discontinues and a next similar type use could reestablished within one year. If one if uh after one year the same use is not reestablished and that previous conditional use approval expires. And that's why the applicant is here tonight requesting a very similar physical fitness facility this time for a wrestling and boxing gym. uh that wrestling and boxing gym would be located entirely within the enclosed building. There would be no activities on the exterior of the of the building. They the classes would be offered on a camp basis that could last between 3 days to 3 months. Uh during the school year, the the the gym would be offered to kids and adults, although the youth is expected to be the primary um sort of uh students. During the school year, the facility would offer these camps from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And then during the summer months when the school is out of session, the camps would be held generally between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The applicant is the sole owner and operator. uh they've indicated that all members wishing to participate and be part of this would have to be members of the USA boxing and wrestling USA wrestling associations which provide um secondary health insurance and the applicant can explain and elaborate on

that. Uh the the layout on the inside is going to be very simple. Generally, it will be set up with mats for wrestling and then some um boxing bags that will be you know there for practices and training. The applicant is proposing to make some minor changes to the bathrooms to make them ADA accessible and code compliant for this type of facility. They are also uh making some changes to the site although minor. Uh we expect those changes to have a quite positive effect on the property. There's an an asphalt area west of the building that cannot generally cannot be used uh that will be converted to open green space with some landscaping and trees. Uh the applicant has also agreed to add some more landscaping in the front parking lot uh to create some some variety, some shade trees um and then enhance the area along the around the the monument sign. Minor, but should make some improvements to the property. The proposal requires compliance. I should say that the based on the uh the number of parking spaces on site which is 16 and the one uh one employee the the applicant uh that would leave 15 parking spaces available for uh students and for this type of facility parking requirement is based on the formula of u one parking space per four students. This leads to a maximum capacity of 60 students for this facility. The applicant has agreed uh that they would uh they would schedule no more than 25 students per session so that there are never any problems with parking. Uh the proposal requires uh compliance with conditional use standards. We provided our overview of those standards in the packet. Uh we found that all applicable standards have been met and

and therefore staff recommends approval subject to a couple conditions in the staff report. With that, happy to answer any questions. the applicants here as well. They can address the commission. I did have one question. Maybe I missed it. Did Did we have proof of proper notice on this one? Yes. Thank you. We have provided that required notice. Great. All right. Commissioner Valdez, questions for staff on this petition. No questions. Commissioner Jones.

I'm not sure if this is for you or for the petitioner. Um when we when we camp, what is camp and how like criteria for that? They can probably elaborate on that. I I would suspect it's a it's a you sign up for a specific session or a camp. Uh it takes you several weeks and then after that you have to sign up for another one. So it's not sort of an ongoing thing. You probably move up between different levels of training between one camp and the next one. But I'm sure they can explain more. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Weathermouth.

Um this might be more for the uh applicant, but um So, we've got 16 parking spaces and then we talked about the 25 number of students per class. I just I wonder how we can alleviate some of the there was a couple um comments about parking on South Preston Street from the previous uh when it was a previous gym. So, just wonder how we can alleviate some of that stress on South Preston.

So, the applicant has so they do meet the parking requirements. So, that's kind of it is kind of what it is. So um but nonetheless there could be some parking challenges if every single student ended up driving to this facility. Uh we certainly don't expect that and the applicant kind of speak to how they have observed general participation in these types of facilities but they have agreed to pre to schedule the following session. So there would be a uh the sessions would not start right after the previous one ends up. So there would be about an hour. It sounds like about an hour uh of of time difference between one session and the next one. That would allow the participants from one session to leave and open up the parking lot and then for the next one to to come in and they would there should be adequate parking spaces there. So

that's probably the best we can do. Thanks. You're welcome. Commissioner Abali. No questions for staff. I already asked mine. So thank you. All right. Will that will he invite the petitioner to come on up?

Hi everyone. I'm Gerardo Pina. Um, last name's P I N A. I'm not sure if you wanted the location address or my personal address. We if you want to use the petition address that's

633 East Chicago Street in Elgen. Um, I guess I just want a little bit about myself. originally from Highland Park, Illinois, uh where I grew up wrestling. Um went to school out in Wisconsin Madison uh the university there and then recently moved uh back to Buffalo Grove and now uh working at Larkin High School uh through U46 as a teacher. I teach honor Spanish and Latin X and uh currently uh for the last three years I've been the assistant varsity wrestling coach there. Um, and I would just uh very much like to uh open up a wrestling and boxing gym uh here in Elgen to help the community and the students uh through U46 and other um districts as well. I've gotten to know quite a few coaches uh in the last three years who are um right behind me through this whole process and would love to see Elgen uh have this type of facility where uh kids could come and practice um wrestle and or box uh depending on what it is that they're aspiring to do. Um basically uh just kind of a give you a quick synopsis on it. It's just wrestling is uh a collegiate uh wrestling style uh through the US and internationally it's uh not it's well sorry collegiate it's folk style and then internationally it's freestyle or greco roman uh where these kids can all participate uh in tournaments here in Illinois there are several uh wrestling tournaments in Illinois during the summer leagues when school is not in session uh which which takes us into the USA wrestling card and or USA boxing card where uh students can be insured uh with liability insurance in case something does go wrong uh during competition or practice uh where USA wrestling or USA boxing can handle uh any liabilities that occur uh during

during competition or practice. Um other than that there are um you need you do require the USA card or US or USA card for either sport to compete in any of the competitions uh throughout the state and or national or international. Uh other than that um I guess I'm open to questions about the the facility and yeah I'm ready. I'm still waiting for the fun fact. Uh fun fact um is the oldest. Oh, the 7-Eleven. That would be for Demir. Yeah. I'm sorry. Um, Got it. Okay. Gosh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Oh, that's okay. That's okay. We'll Yeah, I don't know that one. Sorry. All right. For more. Sorry.

That's all right. Uh, I'll start on my left. Commissioner Abuali, questions for this gentleman. So, are you just a practice facility or will you have a club as well?

So, it is a club. Um, in order to wrestle at any of the tournaments, there needs to be a club name. So the club name is an LLC. Uh it's called Radical Wrestling and Boxing. So I'm wearing a shirt right now that says Radical Wrestling. Uh so you're basically a club name. Uh therefore your your the business name itself will be called Radical Wrestling and Boxing. Uh the DBA name. Um and then at any competition that my students uh decide to go to where I'm coaching them as well, whenever they sign up for a tournament, they have to put the club name. So then you're representing the club name and yourself as the wrestler or boxer. So yes.

So then age groups you're I mean there's clubs that start at you know four years old or whatnot. So you're taking those up to high school. I'm going for wrestling I'm going from 5 years old to high school till 18. Okay. And in boxing from 8 years old to 18. There is M's levels, which I'm also open to doing, but again require the USA um cards. Uh for those who are 18 and older, there is a background check and fingerprint check in order to be able to I mean these questions are because I'm I'm actually I've been a wrestling mom all my life. So All right.

Yeah. So I'm I'm trying to determine the amount of um people that would be in there, you know, at one time as well, kind of in my my head. So, um, so the the question then becomes, are you going to let other clubs, there's a few other clubs in the area, like rent the space from you? They're always looking for space to practice. It's your thing, your club. Only mine. Yep. Only mine. Uh, no one else would be allowed in.

Um, and uh, where was I going with this? But basically, um, as as like a club mom, as a wrestling mom, I guess you could kind of understand that there's certain amount of space that's needed to do the wrestling moves and practice, right? There's live wrestling in practice as well. Um, so 25 comfortably, I think, would be the max. I really would have to get in there and kind of feel it out with the wrestlers to see how how many bodies could fit in there, but I don't think 25. I I think that would be a maximum for me. You said woohoo, but I was an Elgen wrestling mom. Oh, you weren't? It's okay. No more questions. We're all Elgen.

Commissioner Valdez. No, I don't have questions. Okay, Commissioner Jones. Yeah, I just wanted to circle back. So, is there a difference between camp and classes? Is it a is there a level of instruction or certification that would call it a camp versus a class or

I guess it really just matters um how you kind of want to define it? We call it camp, but if you think about it, think about it as a sess as a session. Um so let's say you go and take you sign up for a yoga class and yoga classes on Tuesday at noon to 2:00, then you would go ahead and schedule yourself for that session. So, for the wrestling camps, you could have a three-week camp um where you would come Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so three times a week. And um you would you would sign yourself up for that on my website and then you would just show up for those times, which would be either two or three hour increments. So, it's just what you're calling it. It's not like it's just a session. Yeah. Just call it a camp. That's how kind of wrestling kind of calls it. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Sure. Commissioner Wildermouth. Um kind of same question I asked um staff and this might be hard to tell at this point but since your age is from you know 5 to 18 if you know like the amount of um folks that are be driving themselves parking versus you know those that might drop off kids be have their cars staying there and I know you're have the hour in between. I just want to get a sense trying to get a sense of the parking situation.

Yeah, definitely. Um so yeah, um 5 to 10 years old for some sessions. So parents will be driving. Uh 10 to 15 or 14 also being driven um unless you're 15 and you got your permit. And then 15 to 18 um would be those who probably would be able to drive themselves. Um, and from what I've seen, uh, from this last three years of running summer tournaments, I've had, uh, the high schoolers, whether they're a senior, well, let's say there is a senior and has a driver's license, they'll go ahead and pick up, you know, two or three kids, put them in the car, and then head on over to the tournament and weigh in and proceed with the tournament. But yeah, uh, wrestling families really are really close-knit. We stick together. other question.

Uh, I really didn't have any questions for you, so I appreciate you coming up. Okay, sure. You can take your seats. Thank you. All right. As promised, we'll open this petition up to public comment. And, uh, I saw that we had the signin sheet. Didn't look like anyone signed up, but still, if you're out there in the audience and you want to comment on this petition, now's your chance. Come on up, sir.

Good evening. I'm Barkley Mapes, uh 641 East Chicago Street. It would be that White House right there on the corner of South Preston, East Chicago. Um there was a Zumba exercise place that was there and it didn't go well. Okay, there was a lot of cars parked on the street, music all hours of the night. They operated outside of the business hours that were set for them. Uh the code department finally had to get involved. Uh after multiple times calling the police, uh then these people that were renting it uh then started to operate uh like a hall like they were renting it out on the weekends over overnight. So, uh, we've endured a lot in there. Uh, that street is very narrow. That's South Preston. Uh, and garbage trucks can't get down there. School buses, there is a school bus stop, right? You can't see it here, but on the end of South Preston at East or, uh, East View, uh, there is a school bus stop there. Parents are there uh, with their kids. Uh again, it's it's difficult uh getting up and down that street, particularly in the wintertime, because it's not plowed well either. Uh so that means it gets even more narrow because it doesn't get plowed to the curb. And driveways have been blocked. The people that park on the street there block the driveway. We can't get in and out of the driveway. We can't get our garbage picked up. Those are serious issues that impact us and the neighborhood. Yes, there's a couple of us right here. We think of this neighborhood as a residential neighborhood. We don't think of as a business uh zone. It's a neighborhood and we're looking for something and

maybe this is it. I don't know. But we're looking something to benefit this neighborhood to impact it positively. I'm not sure if this is it, but that Zumba sure wasn't. anything that takes away where we got to call the police and we got to get code involved that's not benefiting us and I just want you to know that okay the things that we have gone through me and my neighbors uh it it wasn't pleasant and it took a lot for us to get that to stop. So just consider that when you make your decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Not at this time. We're We're still in the public hearing portion. No one else. All right. Well, we will close the public hearing portion. Um, I guess we will allow you to come back up uh with a redirect, but I don't The commission would request that you don't add any new testimony. If you're going to positively respond to a neighbor comment, uh, you can address that. That would be helpful.

Gerard open again. Um, yes, I completely understand um the zoning and being a resident and living in in the Elgen area in South Elgen. Um, I like peace and quiet too, especially at a certain hour. Um, I am I am teaching so uh during school session during the season of school. Um, hours would would be from 400 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Uh, there's no way I could get to the location from Larkin High School. uh any sooner than 4 pm. So again, during school season, there wouldn't be any early hours. Um as far as as summer sessions, I would absolutely try my best and work my hardest with with the neighbors to try to minimize any traffic or any problems or blocking of any buses for for school children. Um being working through 46, I can completely understand that. And just with the idea that what you just mentioned is already in in the staff report and part of your applicant packet. Um I'm going to ask you a leading question here. If the residents have questions or comments, are they able to come to your door and and say, "Hi, I live at such and such of address your dumpster, your noise. Please continue addressing the commission." But but um so so that is a yes. Absolutely.

Yes, absolutely. I would consider myself a neighbor as well. So, you're more than welcome to. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. With that, we'll look back to staff, please. Well, nothing further to add. Staff does believe that all standards are satisfied and we recommend approval. Thank you very much. So, with that, the chair will entertain a motion for this petition which is 21-25. Is there any discussion, Commissioner Jones?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Um, Deir, is there any possibility of looking at that section on Preston for parking? Is that something that the if I recall when they do opposite parking, the neighborhood has to come and request some of those things to do like uh what would we be there? North south parking uh or you know, parking restrictions. Yeah, they so there's a I would encourage residents to contact they can call our 311 number explain uh the situation if there are parking concerns uh if there is u u challenges for garbage trucks or illegal parking over driveways and things like that. They can certainly uh request that the city conduct an evaluation of this stretch of Preston Avenue and there's a parking and traffic management plan in a committee um that in includes various staff members from police I think fire department, public works etc. they kind of they would investigate this stretch of the road. Uh if they find that there are challenges and there are parking issues, then they would implement various solutions that they've found to be uh successful somewhere else. You know, perhaps uh restricted parking during certain times based on what the challenges are, perhaps no parking on one side of the street, you know, odds and even days and those kinds of things. So if those situations persist, I would encourage the residents to bring that up and then staff will take it from there.

And then um it was mentioned that and this is not with this petition but with prior businesses uh being in that location. Is there anything that the city has um available to them to enforce the hours of operations that were approved on a conditional use that were anything like that?

Yeah. So, we don't get involved in the hours of operation. So, even though the applicant states what those hours are, u they're not really tied to them. If they choose to expand it by an hour or two, those are all perfectly fed uh business hours of operation. This is a commercial property that's been commercial since 1970. And so, um nothing unusual about that. And there is nothing uh restricting late night, overnight, that sort of thing. And

we do have noise ordinance that restricts the amount of sound that can be emitted from such non-residential property onto residential property. There are ways to measure that and um so you know there sound their maximum sound levels based during the daytime and night time. So if some some of those types of nuisances persist then then we would address. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.

Any other discussion prior to this going to a motion? Am I right? Am I left? I appreciate the discussion. Commissioner Jones. All right. With that then I will call for the question again. We'll entertain a motion on this petition which is 21-25. I move to recommend the city council approve petition number 21-25 subject to the conditions outlined within our packet and to adopt as the findings of the commission those findings also provided within our packet. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second it. Commissioner Valdez by nose. Staff, please call the role. Commissioner Wildermouth, yes.

Commissioner Valdez, yes. Commissioner Awali, yes. Commissioner Jones, yes. And Chairman Cox, yes. The motion is approved. five to zero. All right, as promised, continue working with staff and uh there'll be a couple of dates where your petition will be heard by city council and appreciate the the comments from the neighborhood as well. Item G, other business. Anyone on the commission have anything for discussion? Uh do want one thing from staff. I believe the reminder about our um recent U member resigning.

Yes, we have I think everybody's aware at least on the commission that uh Kevin Achifaria uh resigned from the commission. Um so we are down to five members and uh hopefully we'll get a couple more very soon. We'll keep moving, plugging along. So appreciate that. Thanks for the update. uh on my left. All right.

I'm sorry. Apparently, there was something on my left, but I I derailed that thought. Um if it if it comes up, you can do it as the item after adjournment. If you think of it, let me know. Let me know. Uh next item on the agenda is public comment. So, if you're here in the audience, want to tell us your thoughts about anything not related to a petition, now is your opportunity. Yes, sir.

Again, this is not related to a petition. Correct. All right. I'll summarize. That's my uh my name is Greg Burna, 221 Dupage Street. Um I just wanted to thank the commission and specifically um Karen Jones for speaking out um at last week's our last uh zoning meeting. Um and she had mentioned that it just didn't feel right and um that meant a lot to us that were concerned about the details of that partition. So, thank you to the uh chairman for um supporting her and tableabling it um for another day and the commission uh very much. Thank you. Um I'll just summarize real quick here. Um basically 221 to page and the 21 uh 15 parking has not gone through the process that we just did with these other two partitions. And that's um a zoning concern that I have um there the calculations. This is a associated parking lot that's 400 ft away from a use. No, because they don't own a land use in the downtown area.

Yeah, Mr. Burna. Again, again, this really shouldn't be additional public comment related to petitions. So I guess if you can speak more generally or or

I have a general concern about this uh concern about the process that my um my parking lot has gone through that didn't involve this um the site is sub is a substandard site and it hasn't had the landscaping evaluated. it hasn't have the stormway um evaluated and it was a change of use just like the conditional use that you approved for the um parking at Russos. So there is a difference there is a different use when you have different uh you know a conditional use was just granted for Russos within a parking lot. That's the I would like to formally request that the zoning um look at this again um because the um change has occurred and yet none of the evaluation and review was was pro um processed. So basically I'm asking for 215 DuPage Street to be which is an existing parking lot and the new striping to be reviewed.

Sir again we need to move away from a sightsp specific comment um from your from your um from your public comment here tonight. Okay. Well, they were working on a public rideway and um that was in the permit. Um was not permitted. Also, I'd like to just add that the adjacent property of a railroad there should be All right, sir. I'm going to I'm going to ask you to to stop. Unfortunately, you're you're not kind of hearing how the process works at this point in time. Um I guess I can Has staff been provided a copy of the letter?

We have not, but Mr. has any questions related to a specific property, staff is always more than happy to discuss zoning regulations or anything else about a specific property. So, we can certainly have that discussion after meeting or or you feel free to stop at the city hall or give me a call whenever you want. We can discuss your concerns with a particular property in the city. Yeah, I think I think the only reason I bring it up is because I have tried I've called 311. I've got I've talked to Monica in the law in the enforcement. I've talked to Mark Meot and um I've gotten no response back, nothing in writing, nothing um no courtesy call, nothing.

So, I just want to say while I am shutting this down because it is related to a petition, I want you to know I believe your your comments are valid. This just isn't the forum for it. So, as Demir said, you can even hold after the meeting and maybe circle up with him here, then you can find a time to to have a conversation. So I want while I'm curtailing this uh speech, I guess I want to also enable that continuing conversation. And can I just ask one question? Sure. Um what petition am I referring to? A petition that we heard last month.

No, I'm not referring to that. I'm referring to that site. The food the food truck is not the issue that I'm referring to here. I'm saying that this process for when there was a change of use to the to the site did not go through this um did not it did not require Mr. Burna, we discussed that that was a temporary use arrangement that's allowed by by I'm not talking about the temporary use. I'm talking about But there has been no change in use of that property for many years. No, it has because it's not an accessory parking. It's it is a parking lot which is a permitted use. Correct. But the it was accessory it was an accessory parking lot and now it is a principal parking lot.

We can certainly discuss that after the meeting or afterwards whenever you want. Okay. But it is a change of views. Thank you.

All right. Anyone else here for public comment that's again not related to a petition this commission has considered? All right. We'll close public comment. Look to staff for the summary of pending development applications. Um the two petitions that were in front of you last month. the text amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow mobile food vendors and then the particular requests for the Wink Park food truck. Those are moving to city council for consideration next week. Um I will note that we did receive a new application for the construction of a new gas station on the far west side northeast corner of Kums and Route 20. I'll just point out that that property is not contiguous to the city. It cannot be annexed into the city, but they are seeking to get cities um water service. So, they have to execute an annexation agreement with the city. And that's why it it appears on this schedule, although it will not be scheduled for the planning and zoning commission that will go uh direct to city council for the review of that annexation agreement. And that's really anything of note. I'm happy to answer any questions if there are. Any questions? Now's your chance to speak up.

Commissioner Jones,

I have a question, but it's only because I remembered your teaser about the 7-Eleven property and did I miss the opportunity to hear the story about the background on that property. The only thing that I'll point out is that I I thought the the owner who was in the in the attendance had mentioned u he has explained to us that when uh he purchased the property from 7-Eleven, there's a deed restriction on the property that it cannot be used for anything that uh includes any type of sale of alcohol or anything like that. So, it cannot be another convenience store. I think that's probably what 7-Eleven had uh built in there as a protection when they when they got rid of the property. And I think that probably had some effect on what type of use can go in there, which is why we see sort of a revolving door of different types of conditional uses. Those are the types of private restrictions that we have no control over and it's it is what it is. But I think it goes until 2032 and at that time it will expire and then it can be used for whatever. So,

thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions or comments? All right, we can move on to item J and it is less than an hour. I could filibuster for about five minutes, but if not, we will call for the motion for adjournment. I make a motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? I second. Staff, please call the role. Commissioner Valdez, yes. Commissioner Jones, yes. Commissioner Awali, yes. Commissioner Bildermouth. Yes. And Cher Cox, yes. Motion is approved. 5-0. Thank you everyone.

Thank you. [Music]