Okay, the meeting will please come to order.

This is a duly advertised meeting of the Juliet Zoning Board of Appeals.

In our capacity, we hear petitions for relief from the strict provisions of our city ordinance.

In matters of this type, the decision of the board is final.

Respect it does not go to the mayor or the city council for any further action.

If you disagree with our decision, we do have recourse and record of record.

We also hear petitions for variations of land use.

Matters of this type.

We act as an advisory committee to the mayor and city council.

Making a recommendation either for or against.

Mr.

Noctree?

Here.

Ms.

Radokovich will be absent.

Ms.

Rohr?

Here.

Ms.

Schmig?

Here.

Mr.

Stiff.

Here.

Chairman Hennessy.

Here.

Okay.

First on the agenda is approval of the zoning board of appeals meeting minutes for October 16th of 2025.

So moved.

Second.

Mr.

Bias.

Here.

Aye.

Mr.

Knoctree.

I abstained.

I was not present.

Ms.

Rohr.

Aye.

Ms.

Schmid.

Aye.

Mr.

Stiff.

Aye.

Chairman Hennessy.

All right.

Next on the agenda is citizens to be heard on agenda items.

The section is for anyone wanting to speak regarding agenda items and are allowed a maximum of four minutes.

It is not a question and answer period, and staff and the zoning board of appeals members do not generally respond to public comments.

Two of these petitions now are being recommended for a deferral.

Therefore, the public hearing won't be opened for these requests for deferral.

And those the first one that's being requested for deferral to it'll be deferred to the December 18th meeting is the special use permit to allow a self-storage facility located at 1701 Drowden Road, which is accompanied by a variation of use request.

So if you are here about those two agenda items and you want to speak under citizens to be heard on agenda items, this is your time.

I didn't.

Your names and addresses.

I need your name and address.

Lynn Armbuster, 1700.

I'm sorry.

Lynn Armburster, 1700 Lake Point Drive.

Plainfield.

And I'm at 1611 Lake Point Drive.

In your name?

Janet Balinski.

Okay, thank you.

Do you have any comments?

Yes, on the property.

Oh sorry.

The property on Droughton Road, this first storage unit.

We are here to try to see if we can keep that from coming in our area.

We live right across the street.

And in the area, there are four schools that there's uh grade school, middle school, and then in our subdivision, there's another school.

Um that's a grade school.

Um sorry, turn aware of the school as well.

At Theodore, and um, so a lot of the children walk back and forth to school, and if they put that storage unit in.

I know some people that own storage units, and they have found many times where there's people that have walked in to their storage units, and that's their home.

And um, there's drug um drugs being switched from one person to another.

Um, they also do drugs in the storage units.

I I just don't understand how they could put uh something like that right next to one of the grade schools, and then just a maybe a few have there been police calls, Alter.

I'm sorry.

Has there been police calls in the area?

Yeah, we'll well we have that um gas station on the corner of Drowden and Theodore.

Go ahead.

Yeah, we we got that gas station right there too, and there has been police there many a times because people fly out of there, and there's kids hanging around out there, and I live directly across the street from where they're gonna put them uh storage units, and I don't want to open my window and see storage units.

Yeah, I can't even open my window at night for a nice freeze because it's so noisy.

Is that the gas station or storage unit?

Well, the gas station won't be far from the store.

Yeah.

Will it be right there?

Okay.

And uh um with the storage unit being right there, the um the gas station.

We we've tried so many times telling people telling telling the cops that we need people to uh watch that area because they they race down race, yeah.

They race the motorcycles, doesn't matter what um motorbikes, they're they're racing down uh drowden road, so yeah, it's just some oh I'm sorry.

So that's what we're here for, just to keep it from coming in our area.

Okay.

We could they could find something better to put there, we think.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Let's proceed.

All right.

Next on the agenda is old business public hearing, under which we have no agenda items, which brings us to new business public hearing.

And the first agenda item is petition 2025 50, a special use permit to allow a daycare facility at 580 Caton Farm Road.

Yes.

Okay, again, petition five 2025 50.

Um the applicant is project development group LLC.

The status of the applicant is contract purchaser.

Property owners are David A.

Ashby, Mark Ashby, Bonnie Pinnow, and the Ashby Trust.

The location again is 580 Caton Farm Road.

The applicant is requesting a special use permit to allow a daycare facility in the B1, um proposed B1 neighborhood business zoning district within a proposed commercial development at 580 Caton Farm Road for the City of Juliet zoning ordinance, daycare facilities may be allowed to special uses within commercial zoning districts, provided that the use is not located less than 40 feet from any other lot located in a residential district.

Two that there is not less than 75 square feet of outdoor play area for each child, and three that the outdoor play area is enclosed by a fence at least three feet in height.

The zoning board of appeals makes the final decision on this special use permit request.

Under site-specific information, the subject property is part of a five-acre site that is currently an unincorporated Kendall County with A1 agricultural zoning.

The petitioner is proposing the annexation of the site and classification to the city's B1 neighborhood business zoning district in order to develop the property as a commercial center with a daycare facility and retail and restaurant uses.

Petitions for the annexation classification zoning classification and preliminary planned unit development of 580 Caton Farm Road are scheduled to be heard by the Plan Commission at their November 20th, 2025 meeting, which is later this afternoon.

The planned unit development at 580 Caton Farm Road would create three buildable lots.

The lots would be accessed by a new public street that serves the subdivision.

The development would also contain access easements along the east-west drive aisles to provide future access for the adjacent undeveloped lots to the east and west.

The subject of the special use request is proposed lot one.

This lot is planned for a daycare facility for children of America and will contain a 10,000 square foot daycare building, a 5,000 square foot outdoor play area, and surrounding surface parking with around 60 spaces.

Proposed lots two and three would contain commercial buildings and surface parking for retail and restaurant tenants.

Stormwater detention for the subdivision would be on lot four and would be maintained by all lot owners within the planned unit development.

The planned unit development will address the site layout, exterior building design, and landscaping for the entire subdivision.

Any variations from the city standards, including the landscape regulations and building design standards, will be included as part of the planned unit development.

The proposed elevations for the daycare facility meet the city's non-residential design standards.

If the petitioner chooses to significantly modify the elevations in the future, an amendment to the planned unit development may be required.

Additionally, the planned unit development will include a variation to allow the daycare facility to be located less than 40 feet from any other lot in a residential zoning district.

The undeveloped property to the south has R2 single family residential zoning, and the outdoor play area will be within 40 feet of this shared property line.

Significant changes to the approved site layout will also be required.

Well, excuse me, will also require an amendment to the planned unit development.

For surrounding zoning, land use and character, to the north is R2 single family residential, and it is a residential use with a well as well as detention ponds for the Autumn Field Subdivision.

To the south is R2 single family residential and currently it's undeveloped and in agricultural use.

To the east is Kendall County A1 agriculture zoning and it's a residential homestead.

And then to the west is RB restricted business use designation and it's currently undeveloped and in agricultural use.

For applicable regulations, we have Section 47-11.2A, which is special uses in a B1 neighborhood business district, as well as Section 47-5.2A special uses in an R1 single family residential district.

And finally, Section 47-5.2C criteria for issuance of a special use permit.

Under discussion, the petitioner project development group LLC is requesting approval of a special use permit to allow a daycare facility as part of a new commercial development at 580 Caton Farm Road.

The daycare facility would be owned and operated by Children of America, which is a national child care provider with locations in many states, including Illinois.

The facility would be required to meet all state licensing standards for the for daycare centers related to personnel, program requirements, health standards, and building requirements.

The proposed daycare facility would have a maximum capacity of 190 children and employ around 25 people at full capacity.

The center would serve children between the ages of six weeks and 12 years and also offer before and after care for school age children.

Proposed hours of operation are 6.30 a.m.

to 630 p.m.

The proposed design of the facility reflects the typical layout and appearance for all children of America facilities.

The proposed floor plan shows around 11 classrooms, which with a central corridor leading to the outdoor play area on the south side of the building.

The building's exterior materials will be a mix of brick, split face, block veneer, and efus.

Parking would be located along the north and east sides of the building.

For drop off and pickup, parents and guardians would park and come inside the building to check in and check out their children.

The building is surrounded by a concrete sidewalk with four adequate access and egress.

The daycare facility proposal includes a 5,000 square foot outdoor play area enclosed by a fence.

The enclosure will be set back 15 feet from the south property line to allow space for the required 15 foot perimeter landscape area adjacent to the undeveloped residentially zoned property to the south.

For recommended action, steff staff finds that the request meets the special use criteria in that the proposal will not be detrimental to public health and safety.

The special use will not impede development of the area, and adequate access is provided.

The proposed facility is intended for a national daycare or excuse me, child care provider, and will be required to meet all state daycare licensing standards.

The daycare facility will be part of a new commercial development within a planned unit development.

The planned unit development will regulate the site layout and perimeter landscaping for the entire site.

The proposed planned unit development site plan includes adequate parking for the daycare facility as well as the other commercial buildings.

Access to the lots will be provided via a new public street off Caton Farm Road.

Staff finds that a daycare facility is an acceptable use within the B1 neighborhood business zoning district and will be appropriate within the proposed five-acre commercial subdivision.

For conditions, if the zoning board desires to approve the special use permit to allow a daycare facility located at 580 Caton Farm Road, the following conditions would be included.

One, that an outdoor play area shall be provided that includes not less than 75 square feet per child using the area at any one time.

Two, that the outdoor play area shall be enclosed by a fence at least three feet in height.

Three, that the special use granted herin shall terminate in lapse unless a building permit or certificate of occupancy is obtained not later than 180 days of the effective date of this ordinance and the erection or alteration of a building is started or the use is commenced within such a period.

And four, should the property be declared a public nuisance, it shall be subject to a rehearing and possible revocation of the special use permit, and that concludes staff's report.

You know the routine.

I do.

It's been a minute.

Do you swear the evidence is you're about to present to be the truth on your penalty of law?

I do.

Name and address.

Nathaniel Washburn with KGG L L C 111 North Ottawa Street here in Joliet.

I will also, in case any of them come up, uh we can swear them in as we go, but I do have with me Bill Caton and Tom Livo, who are uh brokers and consultants for the developer.

Uh Cole Helfrick, who is the surveyor with CORU Group, and uh Russ Frado, who is the representative and agent for Project Development Group LLC.

So we do have hopefully everybody to answer all of the world's questions today.

But uh, what's before you uh staff did a very good job of summarizing this is one facet of a larger project that is coming before the plan commission later on this afternoon?

Uh but specifically before you is the request to approve the daycare facility for the proposed lot in this three uh unit uh development.

Uh there's a need for daycare facilities, it seems to be growing every year.

Uh and children of America like this site and think this would be a good location for them, to the best of my understanding.

The next closest daycare facility to this, not including like a mom and pop type thing in somebody's house, would be located about five miles away on Route 59 and Caton Farm Road.

So there is a gap, there is a need, and we believe that this is a good project for this area.

Certainly happy to answer any questions.

We have no qualms with staff's report or the conditions they're placing on this.

Come forward.

You swear the evidence you're about to present to be the truth on the penalty of law.

I do.

I need your name and address.

Kathleen Hampton, 7409 Roseman Drive, Plainfield, Illinois, 60586.

I live directly south, south and a little bit east.

Um it's the daycare center that I didn't realize they could have up to 190 in there.

Uh that's potentially 190.

They don't have 190 parking space spaces, and you could potentially have 190 different kids from different families.

Okay, we have the high school that's just a stone's throw from there.

When they get when they come to come in, it's I mean, the traffic is horrendous there.

When they get when they come to come in, it's I mean the traffic is horrendous there when the high school, and then we have a uh uh a grammar school that's right around the corner from the lot that's next to this, and we need a light there.

We're not getting a light for some reason, but with all that traffic in and out, I don't care how wide they make the street, it's gonna be worse than what it is now.

Uh that's one thing.

The restaurant, a 2,000 foot restaurant.

That's not a very big restaurant.

Um I'm thinking more, it's probably gonna end up a coffee place that they're in and out and in and out, and then they're gonna make with a restaurant, it's more than 6 30 that they close.

It's probably gonna be later than that, so that's more, okay.

And um what else was I gonna say?

It's plopped right in the middle of there's uh empty land on both sides, and there's empty land behind.

It reminds me of when I was a kid, lived in the city of Chicago, and every other block had either a tavern in the middle of it or had a little uh a little grocery store.

We don't need that now.

I there's so much undeveloped land around us.

Uh one just put theirs up west of here.

Uh I think 80 acres, they said that's for sale now.

We don't know what's gonna go up there.

We don't know on uh Hayton Farm and uh County Line.

There's a big I mean for miles it goes down.

Uh it's agricultural.

We don't know what they're gonna do with that.

Uh the lady either passed away or she's very elderly, and who knows what's gonna happen with that.

We don't know what the one next to this is going to do with her land.

She's elderly, and right now she's not gonna sell it.

But if something happens to her, we don't know what's gonna what uh her kids are gonna do.

So and then next to it, that little area.

Uh they're just plopping something in the middle of this, not taking in uh in consideration of what all that land is gonna end up.

So it's just gonna be like they're forcing it to go commercial, and who knows if somebody would buy that all and put up some nice homes or something.

Uh that would be a uh a lot of good money for the city in taxes because we pay big taxes over there.

So like I say, that's what I have to say.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

You swear the truth is where the evidence you're about to present to be the truth under penalty of law.

Yes.

Jessica, uh, address 742 3 Rosewind Drive, Plainfield, Illinois.

Um, so my houses are right behind, or my house, I should say, is right behind R2.

So this would obviously impact myself and everybody in that area because it's right next to it.

Um I have my neighbor who just moved there now, even a month ago, and she bought that property because there's nobody behind us in the schools there, and she has kids, so potentially their kids would go there, and now she's running the risk of like and myself of the privacy being gone and being more congested with traffic.

Cain Farm is already very congested with traffic because of the all D, the gas station that was put up last year, the Walgreens, the school.

The school alone brings in a lot of traffic, basically in the morning and afternoon when kids are going in and out.

And not just that, but also the risk.

There's a lot of risk with the all the kids that go to that school.

That street is very congested, and there's kids that walk and cross the street all day, every day, going to school and going home.

So I feel like this commercial project that you guys want to put in there is gonna cost more traffic, and there's not even a sidewalk right now there for the kids.

You guys should I feel like it should be more focused with putting more safety areas for the kids to walk every day to school versus the adding more traffic and congestion in that area.

I myself, I buy my property too because I like the privacy, and if I have kids one day, my kids would go to that school too, and I wouldn't want them to have to be surrounded by more traffic or be surrounded by a lot of noise, which is what will bring that the it will bring that.

And I wouldn't want them to have to be surrounded by more traffic or be surrounded by a lot of noise, which is what will bring that the it will bring that.

It will bring a lot more noise to everybody that lives in that area.

Um but that's just my my concern for this.

Anyone else?

Name and address, please.

So will height?

Lisa will height, 7413 Bros Wind Drive.

Um I agree with my neighbors and what they say.

And we've been out there for 22 years.

Um my neighbors here has been out there for 24 years.

So living in this area has been extremely quiet.

But with the high school being there, because you have noticed I'm a teacher.

Am I a little nervous?

Have my sweater aren't from work, but it's very congested.

And over the years, as I watch people move in, and plenty fields are high school growth, there is more and more congested.

There is more traffic.

So bringing in this daycare center, and there's no sidewalks, there's no stop lights there, there's nothing.

We get night lights, but other than that, there's nothing else.

It's bringing in added congestion to the street.

And not only that, I'm concerned about plumbing issues because we know when you build buildings, you're dealing with plumbing also.

My neighbors and I never had any plumbing issues.

I know I haven't.

So how's this going to plumbing?

Because now we gotta add that into there.

Um that's just some of our concerns and some of my concerns that I have also.

Safety of the kids.

Um with the grammar school, then around the corner from there, and then with the high school, and we just had a child a couple of days ago that was hit because of all the congestion.

Um concerned about that.

So that's what my thoughts are.

Okay.

Anyone else the evidence you're about to present to be the truth, Jim?

Yes.

My name's Eric Bernanke, 2210 Ashby Lane.

Um just for full disclosure, vice chair of the Kendall County Regional Plan Commission, um, now state township supervisor, and I'm also on the Clubland's VHOA board.

Uh, last night we did have a meeting uh with a few of the residents here.

Um pretty much the same concerns were brought up last night that a lot of them brought up today.

Um, I'm not speaking at any official capacity today because none of my boards uh took any official votes, but just kind of want to come kind of talk about this site plan.

Um, the one thing to kind of talk about like the history of this area, um, this was actually annexed in 1999.

Uh that Rusinellus property that's the RB and R2.

Uh that restricted business zoning was supposed to be built for a church.

Um that has not happened.

That's probably lapsed by now.

Uh that's still annexed, but in theory, a church could walk in tomorrow and and be built.

Um I know the zoning board is only listening to kind of like the special use permit uh just for that 580 parcel, which is lot number one.

Um I guess I just have a general issue with the site plan in general with the business in there.

Um when it comes to uh you know, like the uh the fast food restaurant or drive-through restaurant.

I kind of looked it up on Google.

There is not a mid-block drive-thru in the city of Joliet, other than I think uh beef shack on the far east side.

So other than 52 or 59 or Essington, which is actually planned corridors, there's nothing on a mid-block that's that's like this.

And so putting any development here really needs to be considered very carefully.

Um, in terms of the daycare, um, even if we were to annex this in as R1, R2 or 3 with the low density multifamily, obviously it um a daycare is a permitted special use in those zones.

So you know, I guess kind of by right, it would kind of make sense if there was multi-family with a daycare, but the whole rest of the site plan I think really needs to be considered and back to the table because if this was fully built out, there's really not a good access for the rest of that parcel that's R2.

Um, because the city or the um the school district owns that access point on the far west side of the property, and so you're looking at about four access points from the school property all the way to Clublands Parkway within 1200 feet.

And so with all that traffic, that makes a mess.

So putting any development there really needs to be considered for how it would be built out with any access points in that restricted business zone or back up on the east side of what this proposal is really looking at.

So a lot of things to consider there.

Thank you.

What would you consider be a good fit for the area?

So that was a million dollar question that I kind of uh you know told a lot of the residents last night, you know.

Oh, one other thing I wanted to bring up.

You know, so back in 2004, the city of Joliet passed a uh Kendall County sub-area plan, and this whole section was you know in the comp plan planned for residential.

So any business or daycare technically does not fit.

Um so that's kind of what I brought up to the residents was hey, you know, residential kind of means a broad thing 25 years ago when you kind of see how neighborhoods were built up, how you know a gas station gets built out.

But even back then, everybody kind of knew that hard corner at Caden and Ridge was gonna be commercial or at county line and Caden Farm would be commercial, but it was never planned for business in the middle of this section here.

Uh so kind of what we talked about last night was what do you want to see?

And you know, basically low usage if possible.

Um, I know there's plenty of usage for state lots, which doesn't really exist west of 59, you know, in Joliet or Joe Field areas that we say.

Um, you know, I did bring up the multifamily, which is kind of a logical extension from you know the far, you know, the the single family homes to a potential daycare slash restricted business use or like like a church and then the school district, you know.

So to answer your question, I I would say something like duplexes, which is kind of what we have over by Westfield, uh, that restaurant over there.

We have the Kendall Ridge town homes, and so there is kind of a need for that.

Um, and I think that would be kind of a logical extension.

And that's the that's kind of the worst thing about this plan coming here is trying to piece together that whole parcel is really difficult because you know, on the site plan, just like the detention area, which is on that far southeast, which I think would be like lot number three here.

Yeah, um, you know, how does that fit in with the rest of the parcel that's gonna be developed later on?

Because there is a slope going down from Caton Farm to uh the people who live on Rosewind.

I think it's about five, six foot difference.

This is built at height, and so what some of the residents mentioned, luckily that it looks like they're grading out this uh parcel at about the same elevation, so it's really sh it's I mean, you never know because uh with our with our homes that were built by Newman Homes, uh we don't know where drain tiles are, uh we don't know where a lot of things are, and I know there's flooding issues in our neighborhood all over the place.

So you know, those are always concerns when it talks about engineering stuff like that, putting it into these open parcels in the Milvicornfield.

When more and more people are moving into the area, people's gonna be looking for places for the kids to go to school, and presently already have a school there.

I mean, you said traffic as we use in the mornings and in the afternoons during the day is normal working hours.

I mean, yeah.

Yeah, that was one thing too, you know.

When you even just site specific, I mean, I guess we'll go into kind of like site plans.

When we kind of talk about business districts, you want something that people can actually access.

There's no sidewalk access for the folks that live to the north of this parcel in autumn fields.

So they'd be they would have to be crossing illegally across the street on five lanes of traffic to access whatever retail or food areas unless they're being forced to walk all the way to street lights at Cleveland's Parkway or County Line Road.

So that's why with this retail, the only people who are really gonna access is the future development to the south, or people in Clublands Parkway that would still live a half mile to walk there or whatnot.

So that's a whole nother issue with the site plan.

But you know, the biggest big busiest times for people visiting a daycare facility or any facility, uh well, I guess specifically daycare because they do open earlier than most businesses, is that you know they're dropping off at 6 30 to 7 o'clock.

The school they start at 7 o'clock, and most of the time it almost backs up halfway to where this site plan would kind of start.

And so that that's an issue, obviously not during the day, but in the morning that that's kind of a little bit of an issue.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Any questions about the board?

Respond here.

Yeah, I'm gonna start off the response, and I'm sure I will have a couple of our team come up, but I wanted to address a few things uh before I let this uh turn into a little bit uh less directed uh conversation, so I wanted to make sure I addressed a few points, then we can hone in on what still requires follow-up.

First, uh, there was a lot of concerns about access, traffic, and you know, the ability to just traverse the site.

As you can see on our site plan, we are going to be extending a sidewalk across the entire frontage of this property.

We are against our own preferences putting in a three-lane boulevard at the city's request to not only help manage the traffic that will be coming in and out of this site, but also planning to give access to the future residential or potential residential development on the Rusin Ellis property.

I actually argued with staff repeatedly that the Rousin Ellis is have plenty of frontage of their own, but due to exactly the concerns that were raised that there may be too many access points in too short a span of time.

We have agreed at substantial cost and detriment to this project to add a very large boulevard to allow to right now, nowhere to allow for that future development to accommodate that potential traffic, with the intent that at some point the volume of traffic would warrant a signal at that interchange, which is why it's being engineered and designed to the uh standard it's in.

As far as the size of the proposed restaurant lot, you know, it is small for a sit-down restaurant because it's not intended to necessarily be a sit-down restaurant, it's to intended to be more of a QSR type situation.

But right now, most of our talks have been, as was noted, with you know, coffee shops or ice cream shops.

We were in pretty substantial discussions with uh an ice cream shop, and I don't know where that's at.

And uh the broker may be able to give a little more clarity on that, but this is not intended to be a McDonald's or an RB's, it's really intended to be something that would fit in with the general tenor of both the residential neighborhoods around it and the uses, you know.

You have a daycare of an ice cream store is probably not a terrible idea for everybody involved, except maybe the parents who don't want to have to uh run their kids to the ice cream shop.

As far as the daycare operations itself, uh the site plan has adequate parking per code.

We're seeking no variances.

Uh, and as anybody who knows how a daycare functions, yes, there are times where there are more people than others, but not every single individual is dropping off precisely at 6 30, and not every individual is picking up precisely at 5 p.m.

You know, they have a kind of an ebb and a flow, and the design of the site was provided and uh you know heavily influenced by children of America themselves.

So this is their plan in terms of their building and sort of their preferred layout that they've used repeatedly across the country.

So the fact that again it's not asking for any variances in terms of traffic flow, parking, you know, it is designed to accommodate what they could, and again, it's 190 max capacity.

Could it be at max capacity?

Certainly.

Do I anticipate it'll be at max capacity every minute of every day?

You know, again, that's the nature of daycares.

They like to be as full as possible, but they're not always completely full.

And if they are, then that's why you build more of them because the kids still need somewhere to go.

As far as why here and not elsewhere, this is what's available for sale.

We approached the Rusin Elises about trying to acquire more property to again give greater flexibility to this development.

We were told no.

We tried to approach the neighbor next door who I believe is a relative of the people that are selling to us.

We were told not selling, no.

So it's not that we didn't do a lot of due diligence and homework to reach out to the surrounding property owners to try to make this development fit as cooperatively into the bigger picture uh for this area as possible.

And a lot of the issues that I hear that were brought up about access sidewalks, noise, congestion.

This site is designed with staff's input with traffic engineer input to help what's going on out there, not necessarily exacerbate and frustrate that.

And we anticipate a lot of the traffic that would be getting caught by this are the local residents that are around there, the people that are already traversing this road.

This isn't going to necessarily, because again, daycares being what they are, you're not going to drive from downtown Joliet all the way out to 580 Cat and Farm Road to drop your kid off.

There's a certain proximity range, and again, as I mentioned, I believe the next closest one of these is five miles away.

So there's going to be a little up and flow, but this isn't necessarily going to be this destination place that's going to pull traffic to further exacerbate any traffic issue, and the fact that we're building this boulevard makes it more likely that at some point there will be the signal warrants necessary to also help uh address some of those traffic problems.

As far as the trends in development and future development, as many of you have heard many many times before, you know, people don't always want change, like change, but all we can work with is what is before us, and this is the project, the property we have, the best layout we have for it under the circumstances that we have before us.

There is a need for a daycare, and I also want to remind this group some of the concerns that were brought up by these residents, they will have an opportunity to address those before the plan commission where those items, the site plan itself, the layout of the site, the stormwater engineering, the zoning itself will have its own separate public hearing uh later on this afternoon.

But what is before you is specifically is a daycare?

If the rest of this are is approved, is a daycare an appropriate use for that site.

Certainly there can be comments to that, but that is what's before this board because spinning this forward, if this board were to say vote to deny the daycare, yet plan commission this afternoon votes for the zoning and the plat approval.

Now you have three lots and the intended use for this lot.

It'll still be business zoned if the plan commission approves that and the city council approves it.

It will still be that size, but a daycare can't go there because there's no special use.

So then that just opens up another large lot for potentially any permitted business use to go there.

So that's why what's here is is a daycare the best use or an appropriate use, if not necessarily the best use for that specific lot and the rest of the concerns.

Certainly we are working to address them.

There will be another separate hearing on that later on this afternoon where we will again answer and address those questions.

As the stormwater detention, something that many of you know, and this will again be discussed at Plan Commission.

We can't release any more stormwater off of this site than we already are.

That's why the detention ponds come in.

So if there are drainage issues in that subdivision, it's probably because Newman Holmes did a terrible job designing it in the first place, but it's not because of this property, and any water runoff that would be coming off this property has to be contained in that pond and released at no greater of a rate than what is already naturally occurring.

So this will not exacerbate any existing conditions and could by sheer happenstance of now we're controlling some of that water in a pond, have an unintended net benefit, but it certainly cannot by law have a net negative benefit on account of this development.

Um if there are other specific points we want to drill down on, we certainly have our team here to be able to answer those.

Um, but I think in going through all the comments I jotted down, I think I have addressed all of them.

Uh, but if there's other things or other questions, I'm certainly happy to do you presently own the property.

They do not presently uh so my client, the developer does not presently own the property.

We are under contract uh with the uh Ashby Family Trust and uh David Ashby, who are the owners of uh the two parcels we are acquiring.

Um they have reviewed and approved of everything, you know, they know what we've submitted, they've signed off on all the applications, but if this goes forward, you know, we would be closing on you know on the property and moving to develop this.

Um this would be something that children of America are interested in this site because they want to build it and they want to build it quick.

They would hopefully like to have that place open and operational, you know, next year.

So this is something where this isn't a oh, we're gonna put you know, to Rusin Ellis's property next door.

We're not gonna promise you a church, and two or three decades later, it's not going to be there.

You know, these contracts are ready to go, assuming this is approved and there will be development.

You mentioned that uh the clearest or closest daycare is five miles away.

Have you done an actual uh demand study to understand what the demand is in that neighborhood and the feasibility of filling the 1900 spots?

I can't answer that directly, so I'm going to bring up the person who likely can.

I presume to be the truth.

I mean, penalty of law.

Yes, my name and address.

Bill Caton, uh 24727 West Fraser Road in Plainfield.

I represent both the sellers state, okay, which is an estate property, and the developer.

Okay, so we've been working on this site for about four years.

Uh you'll notice that there is a residence house on it.

The house is in very lot of deferred maintenance in very bad shape.

We couldn't sell it as a residential.

Uh the numbers just didn't work.

So the next plan was to move with commercial.

Children of America have been trying to be on this site for over two years.

We had another contractor in place, okay, which was actually uh Dunkin' Donuts who wanted to put their own store there, and they were going to develop it for children of America.

Uh, children of America have done their own research on this, they have their own uh criteria, and they find that this is a big hole in the area.

Uh we've surveyed this area within three miles of this site.

There's a thousand homes, single-family homes, that are either under construction, planned to be development, or currently being built.

So there's gonna be a huge demand not only for children of America and daycare, but for other services in the area for neighborhood centers.

If you go five miles to the east, Route 59, uh, you'll run into one of the busiest intersections in Will County, which has one of the largest accident rates in Will County.

It's a nightmare a little bit to go over there and get in and out of there.

Okay.

Uh I go to the Walgreens there for the last 30 years, and I used to be able to walk there or drive there on my bike.

Now it's it's it's even dangerous to pull in and out of that place.

So a lot of the people will be able to obtain services a lot easier and a lot quicker.

And you can see that happening already at the intersection of the Caton Farm Road and Ridge Road, right?

We have developments that are gonna start there along with that.

So in addition, uh a few other comments I'd like to make with your indulgence.

Um Mr.

Uh Nate here is very good at picking up all the data.

Uh so I'm not gonna repeat some of them, but I have visited the uh elderly person to the east.

Mrs.

Ashby is actually a relative, as Nate talked pointed out.

Uh, and as long as she's a living, she wants to have her four acres, right?

She's not gonna do anything with it.

Talk to their daughters, okay, which are one in the area and one out of the area, and they're going to stick with the wishes of their mother as long as she's alive, and she's in pretty good health.

Um, as far as people walking to this site, this is not designed as a walkable site.

If you look at the index for the walkable site on here, it's very, very low.

This entire area is going to be accessed by cars.

This is a car-driven area.

Uh, I expect even the people to the north in that subdivision, if they want to come here for services, they won't walk across the four lanes that are there.

They will drive to that site.

So that answers some of those questions.

Um the access has already been talked about.

Uh, that was kind of a surprise to us, but we have made adjustments in order to uh fit the comprehensive plan uh for the area.

So we have a boulevard that's going through there that severely limited some of the things that we could do there because of that.

We we started out with five acres of land, and we're going to end up with maybe uh just slightly under four acres developable, uh, which is why I tried to buy uh with the owner's permission, tried to buy some of the land 60 foot or so from Roos Analysis.

So this is the highest and best use for this property.

You will find that the other commercial zoning that is shown on the purple map will probably come to fruition in the very near future, also in order to service the market there.

Unless there's other questions, I thank you for your time.

Any questions?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, the chair is going to close the petition to the floor and ask the board for discussion and a motion.

I would like to make a motion to approve.

A second.

We have a motion and a second to approve the petition.

Mr.

Nocktreep.

Aye.

Ms.

Rohr.

Aye.

Ms.

Schmig?

Aye.

Mr.

Stiff.

Aye.

Mr.

Bias.

Aye.

Chairman Hennesy.

Aye.

Okay.

The special use permit request for the daycare facility at 580 Caton Farm Road is approved.

Just a point of clarification.

This is the approval overall approval is contingent on the city council approval of the end project.

So but if if you know when if and when the project is approved, this decision today will hold with this the daycare facility being allowed at the site.

Next on the agenda is petition 2025 51 in its companion case, petition 2025 52, which is the special use permit and variation of use to allow a self-storage facility located at 1701 Drowden Road.

Staff is recommending that this request be deferred to the December 18th meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Motion to table champion order make a motion to table.

Second that's one second.

Ms.

Rohr?

Aye.

Ms.

Schmick?

Aye.

Mr.

Stiff.

Aye.

Mr.

Bias.

Mr.

Noctrieb.

Aye.

Chairman Hennessy.

Aye.

Okay.

Next on the agenda is petition 2025 54.

A series of variations on signage to increase maximum area for a monument sign located at 2219 West Jefferson Street.

This petition staff is recommending be deferred indefinitely.

Motion being ordered.

So move.

Second.

Close the board.

Ms.

Schmick?

Aye.

Mr.

Stiff.

Aye.

Mr.

Bias.

Mr.

Noctrieb.

Aye.

Ms.

Rohr?

Aye.

Chairman Hennessy.

Aye.

Right.

Next is old or new business not for final action or recommendation, of which there are no agenda items, which brings us to public comment.

This section is for anyone wanting to speak regarding non-agenda items and are allowed a maximum of four minutes.

It is not a question and answer period, and staff as well as the zoning board of appeals members do not generally respond to public comments.

All right.

With that, the next agenda item is adjournment.

Motion second.

Motion second.

Mr.

Stiff.

Aye.

Mr.

Bias.

Aye.

Mr.

Noctree.

Aye.

Ms.

Rohr.

Aye.

Ms.

Schmick.

Aye.

Chairman Hennessy.

Aye.

All right.

That concludes our meeting.

Thank you.