U-Haul rejected in Lake Zurich
After receiving conflicting recommendations, Lake Zurich village board members Monday night rejected a U-Haul facility that was proposed at Route 22 and Buesching Road.
U-Haul wanted to renovate an 88,000-square-foot building at the northeast corner. The proposal was for a retail showroom in the redone structure, and self-storage units, trucks and trailers that would be rented out.
Village board trustees voted 6-0 against issuing a special-use permit that U-Haul needed to operate in the building. Board members questioned why U-Haul did not have a specific plan for the site before they had to decide the matter Monday.
"You've been given multiple opportunities over months (for a site plan). This is not us dropping the ball," Trustee Marc Spacone said.
Trustees received a recommendation from the advisory planning and zoning commission in favor of the U-Haul project with five conditions attached, and the Lake Zurich administration's opinion against approving a special-use permit.
Concerns about the U-Haul plan were raised by planning and zoning commission members, residents and others at a public hearing. The potential problems they cited included landscaping, excess light spilling into residential neighborhoods and the proposed parking of equipment near Route 22 so passers-by can see what U-Haul has to offer.
Heather Skelton, marketing president for U-Haul's northwest Chicago area branch, asked the village board to vote on the special-use permit Monday and declined an opportunity to return to the planning and zoning commission for a site plan review. Skelton said the company intended to make exterior building upgrades and install more landscaping.
As part of the planning and zoning commission's recommendation for approval, the five conditions U-Haul would have had to meet included screening all trucks and trailers, removing a water tower and pump shed on the site, and closing overhead doors during work in a dispatch and repair area.