Accept responsible terminal proposal

As outlined in Grayslake village board and Lake County Board documents, Saia Inc. has directly addressed local concerns about its proposed trucking terminal, apparently to the unanimous satisfaction of Grayslake trustees.

With planned berm, adjacent residents will not be able to see the building or trucks even from second-story windows. Landscaping will further obscure views from Peterson Road.

Despite no specific ordinances, Saia committed to no spillover lighting and fixtures directed down with reduced light intensity. "Verifiable noise measures" are included in the plan, and reverse "beeps" will be minimized.

Regarding air quality, this is a "low-intensity development." Prevailing winds are east-west so any minor air impact will not affect neighboring residents who are almost exclusively south of the site.

It will add at most 120 trips a day, predominately on Peterson Road (which coincidentally is being widened). The site plan includes a six-acre open space, and the village must approve landscaping material which can include "native plantings," etc.

Based on 2013 rates, annually Fremont receives $164,149 and Mundelein High School $123,309 from this facility. Light-industrial zoning has long been baked into neighboring property values.

Despite the mass exodus of businesses out of Illinois, Saia has endeavored to accommodate local concerns when they could have gone elsewhere to build a less environmentally conscious facility. Any remaining concerns over the proper zoning-proscribed usage of this land must be weighed against the abysmal economic condition of our state.

We must take care to ensure we don't end up with precisely what we do not want - no Illinois jobs, but a facility nonetheless without regard to the environment. If such a facility is going to exist, wouldn't it be better to have an environmentally conscious one in our "backyard" with its new Illinois jobs, rather than a reckless dirty one just across the state line?

John Kauck

Grayslake