Help me stop bus center on Randall

On Aug. 8, the St. Charles planning committee voted 7-2 to allow two properties on Randall Road, between Route 64 and Dean Street, to be used as a bus maintenance and distribution center. Around 150 buses will be injected into this already congested area.

Positives: 150 new jobs.

Negatives and reasons I have opposed this from the beginning: Only property owners within 250 feet are required to be notified of this zoning change. Ironically, the developer who owns these properties also owns most of the surrounding properties, so virtually nobody has been made aware that this is going on.

Buses will be traveling north on Randall Road and east on Dean Street, which is primarily residential and already over traveled. None of the residents on Dean know about this.

The buses then will be routed south on 15th Street to Route 64. None of the residents on 15th Street know about this, either.

Buses also will be routed onto a new frontage road that will take the buses behind X-Sport and the Starbucks plaza to 17th Street. There they will turn left and right onto Route 64. Nobody seemed to be concerned about 100-plus buses turning left at 17th Street with no assistance from a stop light.

I believe these buses will create a traffic nightmare. The extra traffic will make this entire corridor undesirable for consumers and they will avoid it. I believe this will have a negative effect on my business and the others around us.

I contacted more than 25 businesses and professionals in this area and most agreed that this would be a bad thing. However, they also knew the developer’s background and the number of properties he owns in St. Charles. They felt we would not have a chance to fight it.

This is a classic case of the big guy with deep pockets getting what he wants and the little guy not having a voice.

The final vote comes at the city council meeting Tuesday, Aug. 16.

Ron Vohs

Elburn