[0:00] we're here to consider

[0:02] a zoning change for approximately 30 acres of belmoral park from a commercial

[0:08] designation which uh basically recognizes entertainment and

[0:13] entertainment venue to a industrial zoning and it's the lowest

[0:18] classification of zoning but it would allow for

[0:22] truck storage my name is richard kavanagh i'm an attorney in joliet with

[0:26] the offices of kgg llc i represent balmoral park 21 llc kiki dobre cinovich

[0:34] is here she is the daughter of the owner the owner could not make it here tonight

[0:38] several months ago we went through a process for

[0:42] temporary use permits for the parking of cars and trucks on

[0:49] the south parking lot those two temporary use permits were granted for

[0:55] the temporary parking of those trucks temporary use permits last for 179 days

[1:02] one of the things that we have done is filed an application for a map amendment

[1:07] from c6 which is

[1:10] an entertainment commercial type of use to i1 with two special use permits the

[1:18] first special use permit is for a truck terminal it's defined as a facility

[1:24] primarily used for the parking storage

[1:30] dispatching maintenance of

[1:34] trucks semi trucks semi-trailers the second special use

[1:39] which we're requesting is a special use for outdoor storage under outdoor

[1:46] storage we could park cars there but we couldn't park trucks there so

[1:52] we're asking for two special uses and with a spout you can't put conditions on

[1:58] zoning but you can put conditions on special

[2:02] uses the owner of balmoral park

[2:06] owns a trucking business that business has gone like this because of the

[2:12] pandemic all of the problems with the supply chain he owns 500 trucks

[2:18] usually 400 or so of them are going to be out on

[2:22] the open road that isn't the case anymore a lot of truck drivers have quit

[2:27] because they get more money on unemployment compensation they don't

[2:33] have to pay the higher prices of diesel etc etc that's why all the trucks

[2:38] started parking down there he had no space on his facility and summit so

[2:43] again we're asking for two special use permits if we up wind up in a situation

[2:48] again where we have a supply chain issue

[2:52] that's basically what we're asking for the property is paying

[2:56] roughly ninety thousand dollars a year in property taxes

[3:00] school district benefits substantial district

[3:04] creep money the township highway department

[3:08] the township fire protection district will county the will county forest

[3:12] preserve district saying the same taxes that you pay and

[3:17] if you live in the village of crete they don't pay property taxes to the

[3:22] village but if the property were in the village of crete would be at the village

[3:26] of crete tonight instead of here my clients would like to go back to racing

[3:32] it's not going to work right now we'd love it yeah it's not going to work

[3:36] right now so we're only asking that the south

[3:39] parking lot be rezoned to i1 and then the special use permit on that south

[3:46] parking lot for again two separate things

[3:49] a truck terminal which is as i defined it

[3:53] and then outdoor storage

[3:56] and that would be automobiles equipment stuff like that the rest of

[4:00] the race track still remains entertainment and if it were to open

[4:04] again you could continue to park automobiles

[4:08] as an accessory use for events at the racetrack there were several car haulers

[4:14] going up and down the road at more than the posted speed limit and they

[4:17] shouldn't be on that road period because there is a weight limit on that road i

[4:20] absolutely agree with you and i do believe that because i'm a truck driver

[4:23] i know how it is and how it goes they look at their gps they turn towards

[4:28] return short assistance you're right and when you get to the end of the road the

[4:31] route one they're going to take out the fence they're going to take out light

[4:33] poles and et cetera et cetera et cetera and fall into the ditch and people i

[4:37] find my client here gave every single mgr truck driver a

[4:44] statement saying stay off elms court road

[4:48] go down to the v and come back if they're on there they should be fined

[4:54] does the truck terminal include a truck stop

[4:57] i.e restaurant lodging no no no no the idea of a truck terminal it's only for

[5:03] mgr trucks it's not for other trucks going up and down the highway to come in

[5:09] get gasoline or anything like that it's only mgr's trucks but it is not for

[5:14] overnight stays or anything like that both parking trucks

[5:20] now you're going to have all these trucks and if they're going in and out

[5:23] 24 7 and all this pollution is coming up we didn't sign up for this we don't want

[5:27] that by our neighborhood will they be refueling there

[5:31] do you have any idea you don't do you have tanks there

[5:34] no they will have to they have to they're going to have to do you have any

[5:38] ideas to you know trip generations how many

[5:42] ins and outs i i do not know do you expect there to be an increase or

[5:48] a decrease you've noticed that there's an increase in the number of trucks that

[5:52] are parked there now that's that's a substantial number of

[5:56] his trucks because he doesn't have drivers and then when the drivers come

[6:00] and go do they park their cars is there a parking

[6:04] area with

[6:07] why do you need to have the zoning changed why can't you just apply for the

[6:11] temporary permits the temporary permits last 179 days you

[6:17] come back again and again and again but you have to go

[6:21] through the same process again and again and again

[6:24] one of the deals that was made to open up casinos in chicago

[6:29] and then elsewhere in illinois one in the south suburbs on

[6:32] 80 and halsted balmoral cannot have gambling until 2026.

[6:40] i see no problem with just the trucks just plain parking and they're shut off

[6:43] like like what's going on now but if that was a terminal and i've seen what

[6:47] happens at truck stops and trucking terminals and the traffic and the crime

[6:51] that will come there yep and it's just

[6:54] all i can say is no beecher will not hold the town of beecher will not even

[6:58] allow you to take your truck and drive would say to the mcdonald's or a gas

[7:02] station in town also university park if i came into town here and turn left on

[7:06] exchange i cannot go through university park with a 53 foot long band trailer

[7:10] they would give me a ticket if they had access off of 394 direct access perfect

[7:15] no problem it's a large road it's made for trucks when the crete

[7:19] intermodal center was put on there is a space between between 394 and route 1

[7:26] that is owned by the village and that was going supposedly that was

[7:31] going to be for direct access onto 394. if they're having a problem getting

[7:36] truck drivers right now they're going to hire the lowest grade of truck driver

[7:40] which are the people that just come out of truck driving school

[7:43] it's it's very dangerous out there with the new drivers

[7:46] extremely dangerous and they're going to get all new drivers then apparently

[7:48] because they don't have drivers don't hire new drivers no we require two

[7:53] years minimum experience so

[7:56] so there's no difference between commercial usage

[8:00] and industrial usage the zoning is a designation of

[8:04] commercial and because it has a special use use permit for truck storage it

[8:10] can be and is being taxed as that use for truck storage even though

[8:16] it has a commercial zoning the company made a commitment to keeping up the

[8:21] infrastructure and the grounds there on the rest of the property because it's

[8:24] like 200 acres total right 222. they've spent a lot of money there was a lot of

[8:28] vandalism all right and the grandstand they've

[8:32] prepared most of that you're putting the roof there no roofs on the grand stage

[8:36] the new roof is on the grand stand now most of the sprinklers didn't work a

[8:41] number of the hydrants didn't work those have all been repaired they've

[8:45] been doing a lot of work do you have a security uh company going through and uh

[8:50] i thought that watching the carpet special use that they had to have 24 7

[8:54] security there yes we have security we had it there with the cars where we have

[8:58] cameras set up and we have workers there every day

[9:02] do you know how many times i've been on that property

[9:05] they're still interested in horse racing we're extremely interested in horse

[9:10] racing i

[9:12] suggest that he look into it you're giving thought to other uses no we want

[9:16] to go back to horse racing is there a date yet for it to come to the county

[9:22] my guess is it's going to be the 4th of october i testified at the last hearing

[9:28] and voice all of our objections so this has been

[9:32] going on not only since last year but it's actually grown

[9:37] the amount of trucks the amount of cars in the south parking lot the elmscourt

[9:42] lane directly across from belmoral is a residential neighborhood trucks do use

[9:48] elm's court not only did they have used elton's court there was an incident of a

[9:52] jackknife semi-trailer on elms court lane not only did that snarl up

[9:58] obviously the entire street for several hours but again concern about safety in

[10:04] a residential area i listed i think five different objections the main one on

[10:09] public safety and concern about allen's cork at the end of the day the the

[10:13] zoning commission voted unanimously to grant the temporary

[10:18] use permit with the conditions which included bills of lading on all of the

[10:24] shipments had to specifically include language to say you cannot use helm's

[10:30] court lane also we had requested that the fencing be covered so that you

[10:38] wouldn't have to look at that partially partially uh chief panic of

[10:43] the as i recollect of the cree township fire

[10:46] protection district did voice concerns about that there wouldn't have to be

[10:50] anything john mentioned periodic inspection inspections because they're

[10:54] concerned that you know make sure there's no gas leakage anytime he has

[10:58] had a suggestion i have passed it on to my clients and they've gone ahead and

[11:02] done it i've already voiced our objections okay but so but trying to

[11:07] understand from the owner's perspective they have a piece of property that they

[11:12] want to do something with i'm not my voice we voiced objections against but

[11:16] nevertheless i think that's pretty much where they're coming from this is their

[11:20] business they have a use for the property i believe that it ultimately be

[11:25] up to the assessor and county assessor but i suspect the property taxes will go

[11:30] up because now you're going from vacant land to something that has usage

[11:34] so it is being used and as a result of that the assessed

[11:38] value will i believe will be going up which means

[11:42] property taxes are going up and as mr cavanaugh had mentioned that would mean

[11:46] additional property taxes for the school district all the various tax

[11:50] involvements i have no problem what are the requirements

[11:52] is because we're asking for a change in zoning

[11:57] the county doesn't allow split zoning on a parcel so we have to file a petition

[12:03] to separate that south 30 acres off if it gets the i1 zoning with the special

[12:10] uses then absolutely it is right right right

[12:14] it will have its own amazing it'll have its own

[12:17] it'll have its own pin and its own assessment

[12:21] yeah if you were going to be doing for example truck repair there then you

[12:27] would need a building it would have to be sprinklered it'd have to be approved

[12:31] by the county will there be diesel fuel tanks

[12:35] put in there i'm not aware of any that would be if

[12:39] they were put in if there if there were if there were

[12:43] diesel tanks put in they'd have to get permits from the county to do it we

[12:48] don't have a problem with the trucks being parked no terminal right we don't

[12:51] want that you're gonna have 100 trucks or more coming in out of there you've

[12:54] got all these residents that have lived there for 40 50 years

[12:59] they like the racetrack they don't want a truck terminal

[13:02] they didn't move there to live by a truck terminal

[13:05] you have options we're not moving my only options are to

[13:10] leave it the way it is and come back every 179 days

[13:15] and if you're good with that if we could take make a note of that

[13:19] kiki did you hear what they're saying is they

[13:23] don't have a problem with the outdoor storage of the trucks they don't have a

[13:29] problem with that

[13:32] as outdoor storage

[13:37] you're going to guarantee us if it's rezoned you're not going to do anything

[13:41] but park them trucks there we're zoned for parking only that will never happen

[13:44] that'll never happen it'll never happen guaranteed if you recently did for the

[13:48] parking of trucks it would fit the definition of a truck terminal

[13:51] unfortunately [Music]

[13:56] the residents would not like to see results

[14:00] what we could do now is just list the uh conditions under which the special use

[14:06] permit would be applied for again and or if this

[14:11] does go a temporary user

[14:15] right right yeah the special use would allow

[14:19] we were to park trucks there long term

[14:24] we would need a special use permit for a truck terminal you can't park trucks

[14:31] because of the way they define truck terminal i disagree with the way they

[14:34] define it but you can't park trucks without a special use permit for a truck

[14:39] terminal even if it's only the parking of trucks

[14:43] so let's do it now i have a temporary use permit for truck

[14:48] parking that expires in 179 days the ward terminal doesn't come in the

[14:54] definition of a truck terminal is a facility principally used for

[14:59] the parking storage repair maintenance or dispatch of trucks

[15:05] semi-trailers and buses and truck tractors

[15:09] temporary permit they already have it the temporary permit allows for parking

[15:13] only we could recommend conditions for the special use

[15:19] of the truck terminals we don't want a truck terminal right

[15:27] they're not making noise they're not running they're not hurting anybody but

[15:30] that's how we're going to keep it but just get the rezoning so we don't have

[15:33] to go through the whole process but once you rezone it then you're able to build

[15:37] all the other stuff correct and that's that

[15:42] after that happens by us any resulting that would happen would also go with the

[15:47] property rezoning would go with the property yes one of the concerns would

[15:50] be and special you may not be their intent but if so

[15:54] the new owners would have the would have they were the

[15:58] zoning they could do now as much as the intent may not be there

[16:04] and special news it's automatic

[16:08] if you request that it run with the property so that if it's

[16:12] sold then it'll run with the property but you

[16:16] can also put a condition on it that it's only for the current owners keep doing

[16:20] your 179 days we don't care but we just don't want the rezoning fixing the

[16:25] trucks and feeling the trucks and the truck drivers sleeping in the truck

[16:28] starting 24 7. i'm not breathing that in i shouldn't have to breathe that in and

[16:33] it will happen i moved there so i didn't have to breathe in

[16:36] city craft the concerns that i've heard one is

[16:40] the security and public safety not only to the property but for the traffic on

[16:46] elms court lane and route one and round one

[16:49] arlington laying there yeah there's

[16:53] there's the maintenance of the property there's the times of operation

[16:57] and whether or not any zoning would be transferable to a future owner the

[17:03] zoning is always transferable the special uses

[17:08] can be limited to the current owner then we don't want the zoning change so if

[17:12] it's resolved that zoning automatically gets transferred well we're going to

[17:17] present all of the concerns that you have to our board we

[17:21] would probably say to the township board that the special use permit for the

[17:27] for the terminal should stay a temporary

[17:31] use permit and they just got to keep renewing it we won't fight that security

[17:35] they're keeping the entire property up even outside the fence we would then

[17:40] recommend that the next time a temporary use permit

[17:45] comes up that these concerns be addressed as a condition

[17:50] i don't think we would recommend rezoning thank you thank you

Crete Township Plan Commission Meeting Regarding Balmoral Truck Terminal

Transcript