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we're here
to consider

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a zoning change for approximately 30
acres of belmoral park from a commercial

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designation which uh basically
recognizes entertainment and

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entertainment venue to a industrial
zoning and it's the lowest

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classification of zoning but it would
allow for

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truck storage my name is richard
kavanagh i'm an attorney in joliet with

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the offices of kgg llc i represent
balmoral park 21 llc kiki dobre cinovich

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is here she is the daughter of the owner
the owner could not make it here tonight

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several months ago we went through a
process for

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temporary use permits
for the parking of cars and trucks on

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the south parking lot those two
temporary use permits were granted for

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the temporary parking of those trucks
temporary use permits last for 179 days

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one of the things that we have done is
filed an application for a map amendment

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from
c6 which is

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an entertainment commercial type of use
to i1 with two special use permits the

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first special use permit is for a truck
terminal it's defined as a facility

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primarily used for the parking
storage

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dispatching
maintenance of

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trucks semi trucks
semi-trailers the second special use

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which we're requesting is a special use
for outdoor storage under outdoor

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storage we could park cars there
but we couldn't park trucks there so

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we're asking for two special uses and
with a spout you can't put conditions on

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zoning
but you can put conditions on special

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uses
the owner of balmoral park

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owns a trucking business that business
has gone like this because of the

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pandemic all of the problems with the
supply chain he owns 500 trucks

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usually
400 or so of them are going to be out on

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the open road that isn't the case
anymore a lot of truck drivers have quit

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because they get more money on
unemployment compensation they don't

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have to pay the higher prices of diesel
etc etc that's why all the trucks

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started parking down there he had no
space on his facility and summit so

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again we're asking for two special use
permits if we up wind up in a situation

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again
where we have a supply chain issue

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that's basically what we're asking for
the property is paying

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roughly ninety thousand dollars a year
in property taxes

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school district benefits substantial
district

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creep money
the township highway department

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the township fire protection district
will county the will county forest

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preserve district
saying the same taxes that you pay and

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if you live in the village of crete
they don't pay property taxes to the

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village but if the property were in the
village of crete would be at the village

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of crete tonight instead of here my
clients would like to go back to racing

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it's not going to work right now we'd
love it yeah it's not going to work

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right now
so we're only asking that the south

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parking lot be rezoned to i1 and then
the special use permit on that south

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parking lot
for again two separate things

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a truck terminal which is as i defined
it

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and then
outdoor storage

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and that would be automobiles equipment
stuff like that the rest of

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the race track still remains
entertainment and if it were to open

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again
you could continue to park automobiles

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as an accessory use for events at the
racetrack there were several car haulers

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going up and down the road at more than
the posted speed limit and they

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shouldn't be on that road period because
there is a weight limit on that road i

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absolutely agree with you and i do
believe that because i'm a truck driver

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i know how it is and how it goes they
look at their gps they turn towards

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return short assistance you're right and
when you get to the end of the road the

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route one they're going to take out the
fence they're going to take out light

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poles and et cetera et cetera et cetera
and fall into the ditch and people i

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find my client here
gave every single mgr truck driver a

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statement saying stay off elms court
road

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go down to the v and come back if
they're on there they should be fined

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does the truck terminal include a truck
stop

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i.e restaurant lodging no no no no the
idea of a truck terminal it's only for

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mgr trucks it's not for other trucks
going up and down the highway to come in

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get gasoline or anything like that it's
only mgr's trucks but it is not for

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overnight stays or anything like that
both parking trucks

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now you're going to have all these
trucks and if they're going in and out

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24 7 and all this pollution is coming up
we didn't sign up for this we don't want

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that by our neighborhood will they be
refueling there

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do you have any idea you don't do you
have tanks there

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no they will have to they have to
they're going to have to do you have any

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ideas to you know trip generations how
many

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ins and outs i i do not know
do you expect there to be an increase or

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a decrease you've noticed that there's
an increase in the number of trucks that

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are parked there now
that's that's a substantial number of

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his trucks because he doesn't have
drivers and then when the drivers come

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and go do they park their cars is there
a parking

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area with

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why do you need to have the zoning
changed why can't you just apply for the

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temporary permits
the temporary permits last 179 days you

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come back again
and again and again but you have to go

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through the same process again and again
and again

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one of the deals that was made to
open up casinos in chicago

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and then elsewhere in illinois one in
the south suburbs on

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80 and halsted balmoral cannot have
gambling until 2026.

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i see no problem with just the trucks
just plain parking and they're shut off

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like like what's going on now but if
that was a terminal and i've seen what

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happens at truck stops and trucking
terminals and the traffic and the crime

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that will come there yep
and it's just

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all i can say is no beecher will not
hold the town of beecher will not even

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allow you to take your truck and drive
would say to the mcdonald's or a gas

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station in town also university park if
i came into town here and turn left on

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exchange i cannot go through university
park with a 53 foot long band trailer

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they would give me a ticket if they had
access off of 394 direct access perfect

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no problem it's a large road it's made
for trucks when the crete

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intermodal center was put on there is a
space between between 394 and route 1

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that is owned by the village
and that was going supposedly that was

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going to be for direct access onto
394. if they're having a problem getting

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truck drivers right now they're going to
hire the lowest grade of truck driver

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which are the people that just come out
of truck driving school

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it's it's very dangerous out there with
the new drivers

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extremely dangerous and they're going to
get all new drivers then apparently

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because they don't have drivers
don't hire new drivers no we require two

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years minimum experience
so

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so there's no difference between
commercial usage

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and industrial usage
the zoning is a designation of

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commercial and because it has a special
use use permit for truck storage it

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can be and is being taxed as
that use for truck storage even though

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it has a commercial zoning the company
made a commitment to keeping up the

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infrastructure and the grounds there on
the rest of the property because it's

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like 200 acres total right 222. they've
spent a lot of money there was a lot of

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vandalism
all right and the grandstand they've

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prepared most of that you're putting the
roof there no roofs on the grand stage

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the new roof is on the grand stand now
most of the sprinklers didn't work a

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number of the hydrants didn't work
those have all been repaired they've

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been doing a lot of work do you have a
security uh company going through and uh

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i thought that watching the carpet
special use that they had to have 24 7

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security there yes we have security we
had it there with the cars where we have

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cameras set up and we have workers there
every day

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do you know how many times i've been on
that property

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they're still interested in horse racing
we're extremely interested in horse

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racing
i

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suggest that he look into it you're
giving thought to other uses no we want

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to go back to horse racing is there a
date yet for it to come to the county

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my guess is it's going to be the 4th of
october i testified at the last hearing

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and voice
all of our objections so this has been

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going on not only since last year but
it's actually grown

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the amount of trucks the amount of cars
in the south parking lot the elmscourt

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lane directly across from belmoral is a
residential neighborhood trucks do use

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elm's court not only did they have used
elton's court there was an incident of a

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jackknife semi-trailer on elms court
lane not only did that snarl up

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obviously the entire street for several
hours but again concern about safety in

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a residential area i listed i think five
different objections the main one on

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public safety and concern about allen's
cork at the end of the day the the

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zoning commission
voted unanimously to grant the temporary

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use permit with the conditions which
included bills of lading on all of the

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shipments had to specifically include
language to say you cannot use helm's

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court lane also we had requested that
the fencing be covered so that you

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wouldn't have to look at that
partially partially uh chief panic of

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the
as i recollect of the cree township fire

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protection district did voice concerns
about that there wouldn't have to be

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anything john mentioned periodic
inspection inspections because they're

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concerned that you know make sure
there's no gas leakage anytime he has

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had a suggestion i have passed it on to
my clients and they've gone ahead and

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done it i've already voiced our
objections okay but so but trying to

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understand from the owner's perspective
they have a piece of property that they

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want to do something with i'm not my
voice we voiced objections against but

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nevertheless i think that's pretty much
where they're coming from this is their

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business they have a use for the
property i believe that it ultimately be

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up to the assessor and county assessor
but i suspect the property taxes will go

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up because now you're going from vacant
land to something that has usage

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so it is being used
and as a result of that the assessed

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value will i
believe will be going up which means

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property taxes are going up and as mr
cavanaugh had mentioned that would mean

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additional property taxes for the school
district all the various tax

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involvements i have no problem what are
the requirements

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is because we're asking for a
change in zoning

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the county doesn't allow split zoning on
a parcel so we have to file a petition

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to separate that south 30 acres off if
it gets the i1 zoning with the special

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uses
then absolutely it is right right right

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it will have its own
amazing it'll have its own

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it'll have its own pin and its own
assessment

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yeah if you were going to be doing for
example truck repair there then you

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would need a building it would have to
be sprinklered it'd have to be approved

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by the county will there be diesel fuel
tanks

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put in there
i'm not aware of any that would be if

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they were put in
if there if there were if there were

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diesel tanks put in they'd have to get
permits from the county to do it we

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don't have a problem with the trucks
being parked no terminal right we don't

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want that you're gonna have 100 trucks
or more coming in out of there you've

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got all these residents that have lived
there for 40 50 years

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they like the racetrack they don't want
a truck terminal

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they didn't move there to live by a
truck terminal

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you have options
we're not moving my only options are to

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leave it the way it is and come back
every 179 days

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and if you're good with that
if we could take make a note of that

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kiki
did you hear what they're saying is they

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don't have a problem with the outdoor
storage of the trucks they don't have a

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00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,000
problem with that

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as outdoor storage

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you're going to guarantee us if it's
rezoned you're not going to do anything

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but park them trucks there we're zoned
for parking only that will never happen

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that'll never happen it'll never happen
guaranteed if you recently did for the

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parking of trucks it would fit the
definition of a truck terminal

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unfortunately
[Music]

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the residents would not like to see
results

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what we could do now is just list the uh
conditions under which the special use

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permit would be applied for again and or
if this

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does go
a temporary user

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right right yeah
the special use would allow

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we were to park trucks there
long term

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we would need a special use permit for a
truck terminal you can't park trucks

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00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:37,120
because of the way they define truck
terminal i disagree with the way they

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define it but you can't park trucks
without a special use permit for a truck

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terminal even if it's only the parking
of trucks

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so let's do it now
i have a temporary use permit for truck

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00:14:48,399 --> 00:14:56,880
parking that expires in 179 days the
ward terminal doesn't come in the

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00:14:54,720 --> 00:15:02,639
definition of a truck terminal is a
facility principally used for

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00:14:59,839 --> 00:15:08,079
the parking storage repair maintenance
or dispatch of trucks

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00:15:05,399 --> 00:15:11,760
semi-trailers and buses
and truck tractors

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temporary permit they already have it
the temporary permit allows for parking

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only we could recommend conditions for
the special use

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of the truck terminals
we don't want a truck terminal right

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they're not making noise they're not
running they're not hurting anybody but

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00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:35,759
that's how we're going to keep it but
just get the rezoning so we don't have

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00:15:33,759 --> 00:15:38,800
to go through the whole process but once
you rezone it then you're able to build

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all the other stuff correct and that's
that

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after that happens by us any resulting
that would happen would also go with the

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00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:52,880
property rezoning would go with the
property yes one of the concerns would

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00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:56,639
be and special you may not be their
intent but if so

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00:15:54,959 --> 00:16:01,199
the new owners
would have the would have they were the

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00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:06,560
zoning they could do now
as much as the intent may not be there

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00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:11,040
and special news
it's automatic

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00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:14,240
if you request that it
run with the property so that if it's

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00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:18,720
sold
then it'll run with the property but you

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00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:23,680
can also put a condition on it that it's
only for the current owners keep doing

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your 179 days we don't care but we just
don't want the rezoning fixing the

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trucks and feeling the trucks and the
truck drivers sleeping in the truck

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starting 24 7. i'm not breathing that in
i shouldn't have to breathe that in and

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it will happen i moved there so i didn't
have to breathe in

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city craft the concerns that i've heard
one is

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the security and public safety not only
to the property but for the traffic on

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elms court lane and route one and round
one

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00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:55,440
arlington laying there yeah
there's

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there's the maintenance of the property
there's the times of operation

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and whether or not any zoning would be
transferable to a future owner the

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zoning
is always transferable the special uses

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can be limited to the current owner then
we don't want the zoning change so if

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it's resolved that zoning automatically
gets transferred well we're going to

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present all of the
concerns that you have to our board we

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would probably say to the township board
that the special use permit for the

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for the terminal
should stay a temporary

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use permit and they just got to keep
renewing it we won't fight that security

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they're keeping the entire property up
even outside the fence we would then

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recommend that
the next time a temporary use permit

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comes up that these concerns be
addressed as a condition

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i don't think we would recommend
rezoning thank you thank you