Lake in the Hills approves truck repair shop

The Lake in the Hills Village Board recently approved a truck repair shop near the airport in town.

Arias Truck Repair, currently at 14 Prosper Court in Lake in the Hills, wants to move to 8545 Pyott Road. The site backs up to the Lake in the Hills Airport.

Lake in the Hills had a long road to approving the truck repair shop, which needed a conditional-use permit because it wants to allow trucks to park outside. Although the permit was approved, the village imposed conditions requiring all repairs to happen inside, and “vehicles in disrepair” can’t be stored outside for more than 30 days.

Those tweaks included eliminating the need for a fence on the property, among other things, according to village documents.

The board first took up the issue Jan. 11, and opted to postpone approving it. The board went through all the conditions individually at that point, noting which to keep and which to remove.

The board’s approval overrides the village’s planning and zoning commission, which unanimously voted Dec. 18 to deny the conditional-use permit.

The truck shop has a fence allowing access to the airport on the north side of the building, and some members of the public have expressed concerns about truck traffic in the area.

Mike Monreal expressed opposition to the truck repair shop at last Thursday’s board meeting.

Monreal said he’s worried a truck might miss the turn into the repair shop and wind up on the taxiway or runway and collide with a plane.

“Trucks and airplanes just don’t mix,” Monreal said.

Tom Solar said he has similar worries about a potential truck-airplane collision and airport security.

Monreal also spoke against the proposal at the planning and zoning commission meeting, raising similar concerns about airport security and a lack of parking at the airport, according to the meeting minutes.

Oleksandr Kes Kovalskyi, who operates Arias Truck Repair, said Friday the only people who will be driving past the airport gate will be employees who then will turn left toward the building.

“It’s going to be safe for sure,” Kovalskyi said.