By Andrea Arens
The Peotone Planning and Zoning Commission met on November 20 to again discuss semi-truck parking at the Peotone Travel Center. The members met back in June to discuss amending the code to allow for overnight semi-truck parking and storage.
The ordinance amendment would allow for on-site truck parking and storage of trailers under the following conditions: trailers must be stored on a chassis, they must be maintained and slightly, no stand alone containers permitted, no maintenance or repairs performed onsite, must maintain proper licensure, no abandoned stand alone trailers, must be within 100 feet of a highway, no overnight parking for more than 200, only stored on a paved surface that’s fenced and lighted, and no advertising on stored trucks or trailers. The Village would have the authority to monitor and regulate if the ordinance was violated.
The allowance of storage for trucks and trailers at the Travel Center would provide an additional revenue source for owner, Suhas Patel, but members of the Commission questioned how much additional revenue it would provide. Patel and his legal desired more than 200 and additional specifications but the Village pushed back.
Questions surrounding adding a sunset clause to allow for storage parking was concluded once it was shared that a sunset clause would conflict with the annexation and revenue agreement. A special use permit would also conflict with the same agreement.
Village administrator Nick Palmer said its storage is currently allowed under the Travel Center’s current agreement.
There was no time limit to the storage but abandonment was mentioned in the ordinance.
Commission member Adam Jones was adamantly opposed to changing the ordinance citing the Village’s inability to enforce village code now.
“The biggest thing is that we have no way to enforce any of this. We see this all throughout town,” said Jones.
Commission member Erin Ekhart agreed and suggested that the invitation of corporations leaving things parked for storage seemed like a “terrible idea”.
Significant discussion around code enforcement and enforcement of the ordinance ensued with Jones leading the argument that code enforcement has never been proactive.
Jones then added that allowing 200 tractors parking at $2 a night for the Village and $400 a month was ridiculous.
Commission member Kirsten Modolo asked if there was a revenue plan to discuss how it benefits the Village.
Commissioner WIlliam Mercer said the amendment to the ordinance is new and that they did not have that back in June. Mercer also said that Patel made it very clear that he did not want the business to be about storage; he’d much rather have customers patronizing the travel center.
Palmer reminded the commission that the Village is the petitioner; that Patel would be fine if there was no amendment to the ordinance as it’s less restrictive. The amendment actually places more restrictions on the storage parking.
“They need to be tighter in my opinion; like way tighter,” said Jones.
Commissioner Brian Orzel asked about whether the restrictions on repairs would affect the new tire business on site. Palmer explained that the tire center is using the location at the travel center as storage and that most tire repairs and changes are done on location, not at the travel center. Palmer also confirmed that the tire service center acquired a Peotone business license generating revenue for Peotone.
Orzel also inquired if the lot was going to be fenced because the lot is currently only gated at the entrance. Palmer agreed that is a question that needed to be defined moving forward.
Commissioner Kirsten Modolo questioned the terminology of clean and slightly and wondered if grafitti should be added to the wording.
Commissioner Allan Gillis asked who would be enforcing and Palmer said the police would be enforcing along with code enforcement because the police department is already patrolling regularly.
Jones continued, “We don’t have the manpower, we dont have the focus. Somewhat motivation. There’s just tons and tons of stuff that’s perpetually overlooked and has been overlooked for one year, 6 months, 5 years, 10 years.”
Commissioner Connie March-Curtis asked if the change in code enforcement with hiring B & F addresses would address Jones concerns and Jones said not one bit.
Gillis said this amendment at least addresses some concerns and guidance would need to be given to B & F. “This is a start, but it’s still loose,” said Gillis.
Ekhart agreed the amendment lacks detail. Mercer said the enforcement agency is professionals and has the knowledge of enforcing this. Mercer added that without this amendment the truck stop can do more today than if the amendment was approved.
Orzel added that he’d like to see how long a trailer can park without moving. He added that the Village will need to revenue to pay for full time code enforcement and truck parking is revenue.
“We can’t be turning down every revenue stream that wants to come. We have a truck stop, it’s there. We need to start accepting some revenue off it. We have 200 parking spots there, we need to make the revenue off those parking spots,” said Orzel.
Discussion continued along the lines of abandoned trailers needing to be defined, specifics of anticipated revenue, and details of an enforcement plan.
Ultimately, the commission agreed to table the amendment for additional revenue and agreed to meet again in December to discuss further.