Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

It's now 2 o'clock, so I would like to please call this meeting to order. This is a duly advertised meeting of this Joliet Zoning Board of Appeals. In our capacity, we hear petitions for relief from the strict provisions of the city ordinance. In matters of this type, the decision of the board is final in respect that it does not go to the mayor or the city council for further action. However, if you disagree with our decision, you have the recourse in the court of record. We also hear petitions for variations of land use. In matters of this type, we act as an advisory committee to the mayor and city council, making a recommendation either for or against them. The final decision on land use is made by the mayor and the city council. Now I'd like, Secretary, please call the roll.

Mr. Byas? Here. Mr. Leon? Mr. Noctrebe? Here. Mr. Ness?

Here.

Ms. Radakovich? Here. Mr. Stiff?

Here.

Chair Schmig?

Here. Before we move to the approval of minutes, Mr. Byas is asked for a moment to speak. Good evening.

My name is Ralph Bias. I'm vice chairman of this board. I wasn't here last meeting, but the meeting before then, we had an election for board chair. The staff took over the meeting, which they cannot do. Only the board can do that. I was told that she called a couple of peoples, and they had set it up and chose who they wanted to be board chair. You cannot do that. Only the peoples who were appointed to this board by the mayor. Nobody else can do that. If you think for whatever reason I'm not qualified, I majored in mechanical engineering and a minor in architecture. I built a large building on Enriched Street, about 19,000 square feet. Designed it, built it, let it out. I built something for the Diocese of Joliet. I was a buyer for Caterpillar. For the whole complex, on Route 6, for 5 and 1 half years, I was in charge of every contractor that came through there. Every contractor. I let out the contracts, went through the prints, and I paid them. Here's another thing. The mayor came to me about two months after he was mayor. He asked me if I served on this board. I said I would. I told him I would do the best change possible. I will not be on this board if you're going to play games. If you're going to play games, you don't have my time, because I give up my time to come here. I like to travel. And I have to center my travel around this. I will not. Here's another thing, too. When people come in front of me, I make decisions based on what I hear. I don't hear ethnicity, and I don't hear gender. I make decisions solely on what I hear. If for whatever reason you think maybe I shouldn't be on this board, then let me know. Is there any questions from the board members?

No.

That being said, I'm done.

Thank you, Mr. Bias.

Next, we have approval of minutes.

Do we have a motion to approve? So moved.

Second.

Mr. Nachtrebe?

Aye.

Mr. Ness? Aye. Ms. Rudakovich? Aye. Mr. Stiff? Aye. Mr. Byas?

Here, present.

Chair Schmig?

I was not here, so present.

OK, the meeting minutes are approved. Next on the agenda is citizens to be heard on agenda items. This section is for anyone wanting to speak regarding agenda items listed on the agenda except for items listed under public hearing. This is just a standard placeholder we have on the agenda. Every agenda item we have today is a public hearing. So it would be appropriate if you were here to speak on an agenda item that is a public hearing item to speak at that point. But if for whatever reason you want to speak now outside of the public testimony, You're welcome to speak at this time Okay, then looks like no one for citizens we hear agenda items which brings us to old business public hearing Which we have no agenda items and then that brings us to new business public hearing and we have three petitions to well two petitions and one is withdrawal for this agenda Okay. First on the agenda is petition 2026-42, which is a variation to allow encroachment into the rear yard setback to allow construction of an attached gazebo. The location is 1506 Yorkshire Court, I believe, Court? yes in council district number three the owner is Jose Gamboa for purpose the applicant is requesting a variation to encroach into the rear yard setback to allow the construction of an attached gazebo the rear yard setback will be reduced from 25 feet to 16 feet the zoning Board of Appeals makes the final decision on the variation request For site-specific information, the 9,500 square foot property contains a two-story single-family house with an existing rear patio. The house was built in 2017 and the backyard patio was constructed in 2020. The applicant wishes to construct an attached gazebo that would match the width of the rear side of the house. The proposed gazebo would be for the homeowner's use. Surrounding zoning land use and character the subject property is in the new stone Shire subdivision on the city's far west side Surrounding properties are all zoned r1b single-family residential and include two-story single-family homes For applicable regulations. We have section 47-16 schedule of yard and lot requirements and section 47-19.8 criteria for variations For discussion, the petitioner has applied for a variation to allow the construction of an attached gazebo in the rear yard. The footprint of the existing rear patio would not be expanded and the only change would be the construction of the attached gazebo atop the rear patio. The required rear yard setback is 25 feet and this would be reduced to 16 feet if the variation request is approved. for recommended action. Staff finds that the property would still be able to yield a reasonable return if a smaller structure was proposed and permitted under the current regulations. However, staff does not believe that the variation, if granted, would alter the essential character of the neighborhood, as nearby residences have patios in the rear yard and several have roofs over these patios. The applicant has stated on the application that they have spoken to neighbors and they all agree the project is appropriate for conditions if the zoning board of appeals wishes to approve the requested variation staff recommends the following conditions and that is there's one and that a building permit shall be applied for and approved prior to any construction commencing and that concludes staff support thank you do we have any petitioner on this item okay please come on up

Do you swear that your statement's to be true? Yes. Please state your name. Jose J. Gamboa. And your address.

My address is 1506 Yorkshire Court. It's the property that I'm trying to build the gazebo attached. I'm the first time being a homeowner. I'm trying to build this gazebo because I have no shade. I guess it's a new subdivision. And my mom has lupus. so she can't be in the sun too much so there's a reason I'm trying to build a gazebo and my neighbors make fun of me because of I'll be between the two houses for shade with my nice patio that I built 2020 so that's the reason why I was thinking putting a gazebo on top of my patio so I can get some shade and that's the only reason I'm trying to build this gazebo are there any comments or questions from the board

What size is the patio, the gazebo?

The concrete patio is originally 43 by 15. And the gazebo, I'm trying to make it a little bit smaller, 40 by 15, the size of the patio.

And the utilities going out to it, gas, electric, water?

No, it's just I have a gas line already when I built the concrete for my grill. For being Mexican, I love grilling. So I did a gas line when I built the concrete. But with the gazebo, no, it's... I might do lights or a fan for like a ceiling for comfort Not yet I'm trying to get this gazebo permit first and then maybe later on add lighting I guess Are there any other questions from the board any other questions from the audience

Okay. If then, no more questions. Is there a motion in order for this petition?

I would move that we approve. Second.

Call the roll.

Mr. Ness?

Aye.

Ms. Rudakovich? Aye. Mr. Stiff?

Aye.

Mr. Bias?

Aye.

Mr. Noctreed?

Aye.

Chair Schmig?

Aye. Your request passes and next step would be to submit for your building permit Or if you have already continue to work with the building division and the planner Okay, so yeah continue to work with your planner who Yep, Francisco and he'll guide you on next steps. All right. Thank you very much.

Enjoy We'll be at the first barbecue

okay next on the agenda is petition 2026 43 the applicant is lpc acquisition company llc the status of the applicant is contract purchaser the property owner is stepping company the location is 23 960 south hobart road and the request is a series of variations to allow construction of a new industrial warehouse facility The petitioner is requesting the following variations from the off-street parking regulations and the landscaping regulations to allow the construction of a new industrial warehouse facility in the I-1 light industrial zoning district at 23960 South Holwalt Road. The first is a variation to exceed the maximum number of parking spaces for semi trailers and tractor trailer combinations The second is a variation to allow parking for semi trailers to be located along and across from the shorter side of the building The third is a variation to allow parking for semi trailers within 50 feet of a building corner and the fourth is a variation to waive the requirement for Parkway trees The Zoning Board of Appeals makes the final decision on these variation requests. For site-specific information, the 74-acre subject property is currently located within unincorporated Will County. The petitioner has submitted a corresponding petition to annex the subject property to the City of Joliet with a requested zoning classification of the I-1 Light Industrial District. The annexation petition is scheduled to be reviewed by the Plan Commission at their meeting later this afternoon on September 17, 2026. The property has been used for agricultural purposes for its history and currently contains farmland and several agricultural buildings. The northeast corner of the site contains a tributary of Cedar Creek within the 100-year floodplain. There is also a 50-foot pipeline easement across the north of the parcel. The subject site is located at the northwest corner of Hobalt Road and Millsdale Road. Hobalt Road in this area is an unimproved four-lane road. Most of Hobalt Road adjacent to the site was reconstructed around 2016 in conjunction with the build-out of the center point development to the east. In 2022, Hobalt Road north of the site was reconstructed into a four-lane road when the Hobalt Road Bridge was completed over the Des Plaines River to provide a connection between Interstate 80 and Centerpoint Intermodal Center. Millsdale Road south of the site is a private road that was vacated in 2010 at the time of annexation and development of the industrial site to the south. For surrounding zoning land use and character, the surrounding area is a mix of incorporated City of Joliet and unincorporated Will County. The adjacent uses are mainly industrial. To the east are warehouse and distribution centers within the Centerpoint Intermodal Center at Joliet with ITC, which is Intermodal Terminal Industrial Park. Zoning to the south is an industrial warehouse with I to general industrial zoning and to the west is the Steppen company kit Steppen company manufacturing plant with County i3 which is intensive industrial and a1 agricultural zoning the site is bordered on the north by a pipeline easement and Beyond that is a trucking terminal with i1 light industrial zoning and a rural residential property with County a1 agricultural zoning The zoning and land use for the adjacent properties are as follows. To the north, County A1 Agricultural, again, pipeline parcel. To the south, I2 General Industrial with an industrial warehouse. To the east is a city, ITC zoning with industrial warehouse, distribution center, and a fueling center. And then, again, to the west is County A1 Agricultural zoning, and it is farmland and open space. For applicable regulations, we have section 47-17.17 , off-street parking regulations for warehouses and distribution facilities. We have section 47-15 , parkway landscaping. And then section 47-19.8, findings of facts supporting a variation. For discussion, the petitioner, LPC Acquisition Company, LLC, is requesting a series of variations on semi-trailer parking requirements and from the parkway tree requirement to allow the development of an industrial warehouse facility at 23960 South Hobalt Road. The petitioner proposes to develop the site with a 1,179,200 square foot warehouse facility that would most likely serve a single tenant. Proposed building would have dock doors on the east and west sides trailer parking will be located across from the west south and East sides of the building and adjacent to the south side of the building the conceptual site plan includes around 461 trailer stalls there would be employee parking on the north side of the building with approximately 460 car parking stalls The site would have a full access for trucks and a separate full access for cars on the north side off Hobalt Road. The middle of the site would have three-quarter access for trucks, but would not allow left turns into the site off northbound Hobalt Road. The site would have no access to Millsdale Road. The petitioner had a traffic study completed for the proposed development that states that the area roadway network has the capacity to accommodate the traffic generated from the site. The traffic study will be fully reviewed by staff with the final engineering plans for the site development. City staff is not requesting improvements to Hobalt Road based on the current concept plan. However, the annexation agreement will include language that requires the developer to provide a left turn lane on Hobalt Road if the middle access were ever developed into a full access. The off-street parking regulations of the zoning ordinance have requirements for the layout of semi-trailer spaces for warehouses, distribution facilities, and similar facilities within the B-3 general business, I-1 light industrial, or I-2 general industrial zoning districts. These include that parking areas for semi-trailers that are not immediately adjacent to the main structure must be located across from the two longest sides of the structure and that trailer spaces may not be located within 50 feet of a building corner. Additionally, the maximum number of trailer spaces cannot exceed the greater of the following. One parking space per loading dock, one parking space for every 12 linear feet of the two longest sides of the structure, or one parking space for every 5,000 square feet of interior space principally used for the storage of goods. Per these requirements, the proposed site is allowed a maximum of around 294 trailer spaces. The proposed site plan includes around 461 trailer spaces and has trailer stalls on the short south side of the building. According to the petitioner, most prospective tenants want more trailer stalls than would be permitted at the site. Additionally, the petitioner states that additional trailer stalls are needed for the site to be competitive with surrounding properties with intermodal terminal zoning. The intermodal terminal category C, industrial park zoning, which permits warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing uses, is not subject to the same off-street parking regulations as the same uses located in the I-1 Light Industrial District. the ITC district the location of trailer stalls is not restricted relative to the building and the maximum number allowed is one parking space for every 1,500 square feet of ground floor area of the principal building a building of the same size as a proposed facility would be allowed a maximum of 786 trailer stalls in the ITC district and therefore the petitioner is requesting variations to allow additional trailer parking as shown on the conceptual site plan while the precise number of trailer stalls would be determined with final engineering of the site staff recommends as a condition of approval that the total number of trailer stalls not exceed 500 stalls The petitioner is also requesting to waive the requirement for parkway trees along Hobalt Road frontage. There is an existing gas main within the right of way near the property line that would make installation of parkway trees impractical. The petitioner will meet the other requirements of the landscaping regulations, including perimeter landscaping, detention landscaping, and parking lot island landscaping. The perimeter landscape area along the east side of the site adjacent to Hobalt Road will be 30 feet wide. For recommended action, staff does not find that the variation requests related to trailer parking stalls meet the criteria for a physical hardship or practical difficulties. However, staff does not find that the proposed parking layout and number would be out of character with the area. The site is adjacent to warehouse and distribution facilities within Centerpoint Intermodal Center, which are allowed a higher number of trailer stalls by right. Additionally, the site is adjacent to Hobalt Road, which has been reconstructed to accommodate truck traffic. Staff finds that the variation request to waive the parkway tree meets the criteria for practical difficulties. There is an existing gas main in the right-of-way where parkway trees will be located. The trees could not be installed on top of a gas line. The petitioner is meeting the other landscaping requirements for the site, including a 30-foot wide landscape area along the east side adjacent to Hobalt Road. Additionally, there do not appear to be consistent parkway trees along the opposite side of Hobalt Road, so the lack of parkway trees will not be out of character with the area. For recommended conditions if the zoning board desires to approve the series of variations to allow construction of a new industrial warehouse facility Located at two three nine six zero South Hobart Road staff recommends that the following conditions would be included The first is that the total number of trip? Well, the only condition is that the total number of trailer stalls shall not exceed 500 stalls and that concludes staff support Thank you.

Do we have a petitioner on this item? I Could you swear that your statements will be true? I do. Can you state your name and address?

Nathaniel Washburn with KGG LLC 111 North Ottawa Street here in Joliet. I'm the attorney for the applicant. I also have with me, in case it becomes necessary, a representative of the contract purchaser, our engineering team, Jacob and Hefner, and there is a representative of Step in the property, current property owner and seller here as well.

Okay, thank you. Do you have any comments or questions for the board?

I think staff did a very good job explaining the situation here. Certainly there was a lot of improvements done to Hobalt Road in furtherance of the Displains River Bridge, which this here is in character with the uses in the area. I would note, some may say, well, across the street you have Centerpoint, which has zoning that would allow for some of what we're asking for by right. The ITC, all of the IT zonings, as a matter of fact, require a minimum of, I think it's 2,000 contiguous acres under ownership in order to qualify for that zoning. Obviously, 173, 74 acre parcel would not qualify. So we are... we cannot even ask for that zoning which would solve a lot of our problems so working within the confines and given proximity we believe this is an appropriate request and we're certainly here to answer any questions the board may have thank you are there any comments or questions from the board

This is virgin property, has to be developed?

So this property, I don't know that you can call it virgin when you have a pipeline going through the north chunk of it near the creek. This property is owned by Steppen. Steppen has its manufacturing facility further to the west there and, you know, does any property need to be developed that's a debatable question but in this area for what it was per who owns it now and what it's been purchased for and what it's intended to be used for I think is appropriate and it keeps the warehousing contained to an area that the city has defined as an area they would like to see the warehousing contained so it's not in other parts of the city getting the same request so I Whether it needs to be or not is certainly a philosophical question, but we have a desire to develop it, and this is the plan we're putting before you.

I don't see any buildings. Are there contingency for buildings?

So on the plan, it was the rectangle outlined in black, but here's a concept site plan that James brought up to show what we're proposing on the site.

Help me understand the left turn out onto Hobolt.

So as we were going through the permitting process, we originally had wanted to have two full accesses, one at the north and one about halfway down the site. Staff had identified as a traffic flow issue to the extent we wanted to have that full access. They were asking for an expansion of the road and a full left turn lane. So the compromise was the concern was slowing down and backing up traffic by trucks slowing down and needing to make a left turn into the site when they are pointed northbound. This allows trucks coming south on Hobalt to just turn in, but it prohibits any trucks from coming in from northbound, turning left. They would have to go all the way up to the northern access point. So, you know, you can kind of see the proximity where that three-quarter access is to the existing access and the center point way on the other side. That's the staff's concern. So this was the compromise to allow trucks to go in and out going southbound, but nothing going northbound out of that.

Are there any other questions or comments from the board?

I would also note that there is also part of the annexation agreement a plan that if there was ever a need or desire to open that to a full access additional road improvements to Hobalt Road are being built into the agreement so if this were ever to not function the way it's currently predicted to do the developer would have additional road improvement requirements that they would have to meet before being allowed to do that.

Okay. All right.

When is the shovel ready?

That's a wonderful question. I think the plan would be if this is all approved, my client would have to close on the property, but I don't believe there would be any construction, I don't think, until the spring. Yeah, so May of next year.

Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions from the audience? Since there are no more questions, is there a motion in order for the petition?

Motion to accept. Second.

Roll call.

Ms. Rudakovich? Aye. Mr. Stiff?

Aye.

Mr. Byas? Aye. Mr. Nachtwey? Aye. Mr. Ness? Aye. Chair Schmig?

Aye.

Okay, this is going to move on to Council with a recommendation for approval. Your city planner who's been working with you will let you know what date that will be assigned.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

I actually have one more thing. So the agenda did officially have another item. It is an amendment to a special use permit to extend the hours of operation for an existing cannabis dispensary. This is the Visalina Cannabis Dispensary at 2121 West Jefferson Street. This would have been petition number 202644. We did advertise this in the the Herald but we never sent Notice cards out because it was already withdrawn by that point So just for the record this petition was withdrawn And that that concludes the agenda, okay now is there a motion to to adjourn motion second All those in favor

All in favor? Aye.

All right, being adjourned. Okay.