Kankakee Times

Kankakee County Planning, Zoning and Agriculture Committee met May 18.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Members Present:

Mr. Olthoff, Mr. Tripp, Mr. Washington, Ms. Polk, Mr. Mulcahy, Ms. Peters, Mr. Hildebrand, Mr. Ritter, and Ms. Dunbar

Members Absent:

Mr. Einfeldt, Mr. Tholen, Mr. Payton, and Mr. Byrne

In Attendance:

• Board Members

Mr. Liehr

• Department Heads

Delbert Skimerhorn and Kevin Duval

• Media

1. Call to Order/Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by the Committee Chairman, Mr. Olthoff, at 9:00 a.m. Quorum present.

2. Public Comment

3. Approval of Minutes: April 20, 2017

A motion was made by Ms. Dunbar to approve the minutes, and Ms. Polk seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

4. Building – Delbert Skimerhorn

• Building Report – April 2017

Mr. Skimerhorn reviewed and discussed the building report with the committee. Mr. Washington made a motion to approve the building report, and Ms. Peters seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• ISO Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule 2017 Report

Mr. Skimerhorn provided the committee with a letter from the Insurance Services Office (ISO) and a report that they issue every five years for Kankakee County. They do this for all building and code offices. They conduct a survey to see how we’re doing and they rate the office for insurance purposes. Prior to this year, we were at a 10, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the absolute worst. We have now moved up to a 4, and that score is for all construction, whether it’s residential or commercial. The reason for the increase is we adopted the 2015 codes. If your codes are less than a year out of date, you get some large points. If you wait 10 years, you get no points for it. We were at 2003 on our codes previous to this, so we were getting no points at all. We also now have a certified flood plain manager on staff, so that factored into it.

5. Zoning – Delbert Skimerhorn

• ZBA Case#16-09; request for a Rezoning from A1-Agricultural District to I1-Light Industrial and a Variance to Section 121-285.a.5 (to allow barbed wire/electric fence) on a parcel generally situated in Section 25 of Otto Township. The petitioner is Paul Bunyon, property owner and applicant.

Mr. Skimerhorn stated that Mr. Bunyon owns property right at the northeast corner of Otto Road and I-57. It’s a small parcel in Sprimonts Subdivision. About this time last year, we had gotten complaints from the neighbors that someone was building a junkyard on the property, so we went out there and investigated and found that Mr. Bunyon had installed an 8 foot tall barbed wire fence, and was populating the property with various vehicles, concrete blocks, firewood, and other types of, what we would consider, junk and debris. We cited him for it, and told him that it was zoned A1, and that storage of commercial vehicles and outdoor storage was not allowed in that district. After several discussions with him and his attorney, the course of action we suggested was that if he wanted to make it legal and continue the use, he would have to rezone to I1-Light Industrial. Part of the fence he built is actually not on his property, and built in the right-of-way of the frontage road. This is definitely a concern of ours because the ComEd electric lines go through there, which they have no access to because of that fence, and, of course, it’s a public right-of- way. We had a hearing on Monday night, and had several neighbors who spoke against the request, and we also had Bill Surprenant, the Otto Township Assessor, and Bill Cavanaugh, the Otto Township Supervisor. Both of them spoke against it, and Mr. Cavanaugh presented a resolution from the Township opposing it. After deliberating the findings, the Zoning Board of Appeals found that this met the definition of spot zoning, and that rezoning this to industrial in a residentially platted subdivision was spot zoning. They also felt that there could be traffic issues on the road coming in and out, and environmental issues. They voted 5-0 to recommend denying the request for both the rezoning and the variance for the barbed wire fence.

Mr. Tripp made a motion to concur with the Zoning Board of Appeals’ findings as deliberated, and Mr. Ritter seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• ZBA Case#17-01; request for a Special Use Permit to Section 121-99.c.22 (Campground) in the A1-Agricultural District and Variances to Section 121-281.c (Accessory Structure Location) and Section 121.286.c.1 (Number of Driveways) on a parcel generally situated in Section 01 of Pembroke Township. The petitioners are Alejandro Gomez, Jr. and Alberto Sebastian, property owners and applicants.

Mr. Skimerhorn stated that this case was continued at the Zoning Board, so it will be going to the next Zoning Board on June 19th.

• ZBA Case#17-02; request for a Rezoning from A1-Agriculturial District to C2-General Commercial District on a parcel generally situated in Section 18 of Kankakee Township. The petitioner is Kankakee County, property owner and Amy T. Ryan, applicant.

Mr. Skimerhorn stated that this is a request to rezone property from A1-Agriculture with a Special Use permit to C2 Commercial. Kankakee County recently purchased the property earlier this year for the Superintendent of Schools to move their offices out there. The Ryans own a billboard on the property that they would like to convert to a digital billboard, which is not allowed in the A1 District. After discussions with them, we determined that, because of the uses the County wants to use the property for, and the lease that they have with the Ryans for the billboard and the improvements they want to make to that, the appropriate zoning district would be C2 Commercial. This would allow for the digital billboard and the Superintendent of Schools’ office. I believe that they are going to rent some space to the Kankakee Valley Theater Company, which would also be allowed in a C2 District that isn’t allowed in the A1 District. The area around there is primarily zoned or used in either an industrial or commercial capacity, and so it would be appropriate to rezone the property to C2 Commercial. The Zoning Board heard the case Monday night, and voted 5-0 to recommend the approval of the request.

Mr. Mulcahy made a motion to concur with the Zoning Board of Appeals’ findings as deliberated, and Mr. Washington seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• ZBA Case#17-03; request for Rezoning from A1-Agriculture District to A2-Agriculture Estates District on a parcel generally situated in Section 03 of Pilot Township. The petitioner is Patricia Bonnell, property owner and Clarence Huber, applicant.

Mr. Skimerhorn stated that Ms. Bonnell owns a 5.06 acre tract. Mr. Huber owns the property immediately north and immediately south of that parcel. He would like to buy from Ms. Bonnell an area which is about.60 acre so that he can connect his two properties together to be able to get his tractors to his field without going out onto the road. Ms. Bonnell’s property is currently zoned A1 in a legal non-conforming use. It’s only 5 acres in the A1 District, and the A1 District requires 20 acres for a home. The alteration of the parcel by selling Mr. Huber the.60 acre strip would cause her to lose her legal non-confirming status, so the request to A2 zoning would be to bring her back into conformance and she could still sell her strip of land to him. The Zoning Board met Monday night and voted 5-0 to recommend approval.

Ms. Dunbar made a motion to concur with the Zoning Board of Appeals’ findings as deliberated, and Mr. Ritter seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• ZBA Case#17-05; request for a Variance to Section 121-281.c (Swimming Pool in the Front Yard) in the R1-Single Family Residential District on a parcel generally situated in Section 24 of Bourbonnais Township. The petitioners are Scott & Amanda Irps, property owners and DesRochers Backyard Pools, applicant.

Mr. Skimerhorn stated that the Irps would like to build an in-ground swimming pool in their backyard at the property they own at 587 Turnberry Drive in Bourbonnais. Mr. DesRochers, their contractor for the pool, came in to get a permit and that’s when we discovered that, because of the configuration of their lot, the Irps don’t have a backyard. Our ordinance states that swimming pools are only allowed in a backyard, so that’s the request for the variance. During the time before the hearing, we did get a letter from the Village of Bourbonnais. While they don’t object to the swimming pool, they did want the Zoning Board to look at a couple of issues, which the Zoning Board did and dismissed them both. The concrete apron around the pool does go into the setback, but that’s only concrete, and by County regulations, we do allow concrete flatwork within a setback. There will be a fence around the pool which, in the Village of Bourbonnais, they don’t allow a fence in their setbacks, but the County does. The Zoning Board of Appeals heard this case on Monday night, and recommended approval 5-0.

Ms. Dunbar made a motion to concur with the Zoning Board of Appeals’ findings as deliberated, and Mr. Mulcahy seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

6. Transportation

• Transportation Grant Agreement for FY2018

Geoff Olson stated that each year they always have an agreement with IDOT to continue their MPO planning effort. As a reminder, federal legislation requires that any urbanized area with a population of 50,000 or more have an MPO to provide regional transportation planning and produce required documents. The MPO follows the state fiscal year of July 1st to June 30th, so we are preparing for the upcoming fiscal year now. Before we can receive an agreement with IDOT, we need to submit a budget template on the GATA compliant form to IDOT, which has given us a deadline of May 26th. The MPO transportation grant is already included in the County’s budget, so we’re not asking for any additional funds, but we would like to ask for approval for the Chairman to sign the MPO GATA budget once it’s prepared. Separately, we would like to ask for authorization for the Chairman to execute the IDOT agreement for the MPO efforts after being reviewed by the State’s Attorney’s office.

Ms. Polk made a motion to approve the Chairman’s signing the MPO GATA budget once prepared, and Ms. Dunbar seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Discussion:

Mr. Olson stated that he was going to assume that the motion was for the Chairman to sign the budget once it’s prepared, but, because this deals with funds, should we also do a roll call vote for the execution of the agreement.

Ms. Peters asked that the agreement be sent out by email to this committee once received so that they may read through it before the County Board meeting.

Mr. Olson stated that he will have that sent out once they receive it.

Mr. Olthoff asked if we need a roll call on that then.

Mr. Olson said yes.

In addition to the original motion, a motion to approve the Chairman’s executing the IDOT agreement for the MPO efforts, after being reviewed by the State’s Attorney’s office and this committee, carried with a voice vote of 10 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. Olthoff, Mr. Tripp, Mr. Washington, Ms. Polk, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Hildebrand, Ms. Peters, Ms. Dunbar, Mr. Ritter, and Mr. Liehr.

7. Old Business

• H & B and PZA Committee Meeting Date Changes – Effective July 2017

Mr. Olthoff reminded the committee about the Highways & Buildings and PZA Committee Meetings date changes effective in July.

8. New Business

9. Adjournment

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:27 a.m. was made by Ms. Dunbar, and seconded by Mr. Ritter. Motion carried.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/pza_51817.pdf