Parking a concern with Island Lake plan

Island Lake trustees want to bring more types of businesses to town, but there must be enough parking at those businesses, they agreed Thursday.

After hearing a presentation Thursday from developer James Kaiser about plans for the 5-acre property at 419 E. Burnett Road, trustees seemed to agree there weren't enough parking spaces to support anything but light industrial uses.

"You have a limited amount of parking spaces ... I don't think that's enough," Trustee John Ponion said of the idea to include 64 parking spaces on the property, which would have two buildings. "It doesn't seem practical."

Mayor Tom Hyde originally said he liked the plan to include storefronts.

"I think that might bring us some new types of businesses to Island Lake," Hyde said. "This gives you more opportunity to address the needs of the community."

Trustee Richard Garling asked if any businesses expressed interest in becoming tenants at the property.

"There's been no promotion of any kind," Kaiser responded. "Nothing's been done with that actively."

He said the proposal was in its infancy and he hoped to get direction from the board on what kind of development they wanted.

"This is very preliminary," Kaiser said. "We're not asking for approval. We're asking for input."

Ultimately, trustees came to a consensus that having all the development be used for light industrial purposes was best.

"You can't mix your apples and oranges," Trustee Donald Saville said in reference to the original proposal to include commercial and industrial businesses. "That area is perfect for light industrial."