Sports club plans on hold as Lake Villa eyes rezoning
Plans for an indoor racquet sports club may be on hold pending a rezoning decision for the proposed site.
Luigi DeAngelis, developer of the site, hopes the 9 acres of land on Grand Avenue just west of Route 45 will be rezoned from agricultural to commercial to allow the construction. His plans for the Southfield Racquet Sports Club include indoor tennis courts, a pro shop and office space, DeAngelis said.
The site includes a significant area of wetlands, but DeAngelis said the project will have a low impact on the area wildlife.
There is a scheduled public hearing Tuesday, after which a recommendation on whether to rezone will come from the Lake County planning committee. Brad Denz, Lake County senior planner, said he expects authorities will deny the request for a zoning change.
Denz said he urged DeAngelis to turn in a final site plan before asking for a zoning change, but DeAngelis preferred to have the land rezoned first.
"We don't want to have him go through a rezoning and later say there is a huge wetland out there it's gonna prevent you from building anything," Denz said. "It was our advice to give the site plan first."
A denial does not mean that the site will not be rezoned. That decision will be made by the Lake County Board, most likely in July. The board often does follow the recommendation of its committees, however.
"As far as it was designated on the zoning map, in our opinion, it is not this emerging area like Luigi may think," Denz said, explaining that the majority of the properties in the area are vacant and a rezoning would not fit in with surrounding agricultural zoning.
DeAngelis argued that there are no other similar facilities in the area and that he has heard a lot of encouragement from the community in support of his plans.
"If you are not going to be able to use the land it's hard to rezone to a commercial or residential district," Denz said.
The public hearing will be held at the Lake Villa Township Center at 37908 N. Fairfield Road at 1 p.m. today.