By Karen Haave
The Monee Village Board has tabled Second Place Church’s request for a Special Use Permit, despite the Planning and Zoning Board’s “favorable” recommendation on August 16. Second Place Church submitted the application for development of a 22-acre site on Ridgeland Avenue near Gorman Farms, an estate residential neighborhood.
SPC’s lead pastor, Joe Dascenzo, told the P and Z board the property is in its natural state of trees and shrubs, with other “flora and fauna.”
The special uses requested are for a church, a private 1,200-square-foot school “intended to function as a one-room schoolhouse,” parks, playgrounds, trails, garages, tool houses, sheds, and a yurt (a structured, round tent).
“The special uses requested all are allowable (under village ordinance),” he said.
Plans are to make “a very minimal footprint on the forest,” with a “series of outdoor classrooms you would get to via trails.”
The site would be developed in phases, with the “worship space” in the fourth and final phase. The church building, Dascenzo noted, “could be 10 years away.”
Plans are to “nestle that in as much as possible and not have it emerge as a giant structure” so that “it does not overwhelm the surrounding area.”
Dascenzo emphasized the church’s vision is for “a community and countywide destination that restores faith, hope, and imagination in a natural setting.”
P and Z board members said they admired the church’s designs to preserve as much of the natural setting as possible but were concerned about residents’ fears for noise and traffic in a residential area, how the project would be funded, and whether there really is a need for additional outdoor recreational facilities in town.
One Gorman Farms homeowner said more specific plans are needed before the Special Use Permit is issued, because once that is done, “they can do whatever they want” with the property. At the same time, she added, the church already has a coffeehouse project underway on Main Street in Monee, and she feels it should finish that before taking on another.
Another longtime resident also asked about infrastructure and “how they’re going to take care of water and sewer, waste, and stormwater runoff.”
The church has a professional engineer onboard, and officials said they are “well aware” there would be the need for wells and a septic system and are prepared to design and implement them.
One member of the planning board said he would be more comfortable if the actual church were built first, “because you would be doing all these different phases, and then – poof – there’s no money for a church. That’s my biggest concern.”
Dascenzo conceded the church building would be the most expensive phase, and that was why it was designated for the final phase. He did not specify how the 175-member congregation planned to finance their project.
After hearing SPC’s lengthy presentation, Planning and Zoning Board member Jim Lehnerer voted against forwarding a favorable recommendation to the village board, while Pam West and Ed Brophy abstained. Chairperson Christina Bettenhausen and members Ron Lindstrom and Oscar Trevino voted “yes.” The seventh member, Joann Culp, was absent.
“We had three favorables, one no, and two who opted not to vote, but they got majority, so it passed,” Bettenhausen explained.
But when the village board met on August 23, Trustee John Henson made the motion to table the Special Use Permit “until we can get a more informative and executable plan.”
During the Open to the Public segment of the meeting, Dascenzo visibly was frustrated with the village board’s action and not being placed on the agenda. He also appeared to be stung by the complaints from the two residents who spoke at the P and Z meeting.
“John, I understand tabling the request, because you need to see plans,” he said. “We were told at last week’s meeting of P and Z that we could do the same presentation this week, and so that opportunity wasn’t afforded to us. So, unfortunately, I have the plan to show you everything we are planning on doing, but unfortunately, y’all don’t get that tonight.
“Sorry if I missed it, if we were supposed to magically walk up here and float to the front, but we want to respect you guys and make sure we follow Roberts Rules of Order.”
A 21-year resident of the village who raised his family there, Dascenzo reiterated all that Second Place Church has brought to Monee, including a food pantry that “feeds 100 people every two weeks,” an alliance of all the churches for combined efforts to benefit the village, and Love Monee, which, at its inception, provided food and clothing distribution, a job fair, dental care, and more.
“Here’s what you all got to understand, sometimes you make it really hard to love you,” he said, “and I’m talking about Monee. You make it really hard…but we’re going to continue to be here for you guys for as long as you’ll have us.
“I stand here before you…if you want to look under every leaf on the land to see what’s going up there, I invite you out there. Illegal stuff? Come on.
“I’ve burned my three minutes (allowed for public comments), but I’m not sorry. I’ll be praying for y’all, and I’ll see you in two weeks.”
Dascenzo later told The Vedette, “We did present plans at the P and Z meeting. We did that as a courtesy to the village, but it seems to have confused the issue of getting special use approval. Per the village’s special use application, no specific plans are required for the request to be granted. Neither are any funding details.
“All of the uses we have requested are allowable, so we wait until approval is given and will then move forward. The fact we are a church may be what is causing the extra scrutiny.”