Lake Zurich taking second look at U-Haul proposal
U-Haul is taking another shot at gaining approval to open a facility in Lake Zurich's Route 22 corridor.
Members of the village's advisory planning and zoning commission have recommended that a special-use permit be issued allowing U-Haul to operate from the 88,000-square-foot building on the northeast corner of Route 22 and Buesching Road.
Village board members have received the panel's recommendation and are expected to vote on the permit Monday night.
Planning and zoning commission member Antonio Castillo was the lone dissenter in a 6-1 favorable recommendation on U-Haul's plan to take over the building on the roughly 9-acre site.
"As far as eyesores go, it's a business that's going into a dilapidated building," Castillo said of U-Haul. "They're not going to do much to it."
The Lake Zurich village board initially rejected U-Haul's proposal in August, citing a lack of a specific site plan for the property. But later in the same meeting, trustees agreed to give the company a second chance, a move Mayor Thomas Poynton said was unusual for village government.
Without that agreement, U-Haul would have been required to wait two years before submitting another plan.
Heather Skelton, the company's marketing president for the northwest Chicago-area branch, appeared before the planning and zoning commission Dec. 16 as part of the second-chance opportunity.
"Over the last three months, we have worked significantly to alter the plans to try to meet all of your requirements," Skelton told the planning and zoning commission.
She said U-Haul now intends to have trucks and trailers displayed outside toward the rear of the property instead of fronting Route 22 as originally proposed.
U-Haul also plans to renovate the 88,000-square-foot building, creating a retail showroom in the redone structure. The site also would include 1,200 self-storage units, and trucks and trailers available for rent.
Planning and zoning commission members recommend that U-Haul meet certain conditions in exchange for the special-use permit, including the removal of a water tower and pump house from the back of the site by November 2016.
The village board meets at 7 p.m. Monday at village hall, 70 E. Main St.