A request for mixed zoning in a previously industrial area along 191st Street won a recommendation for approval from the Mokena Planning Commission last week, but a request for a special use in a local business park drew a negative reaction.
The mixed residential, commercial and industrial uses planned for vacant land along 191st Street near the Barrington Square subdivision is a compromise.
Compromisers included landowners and village officials, who said industrial zoning was right for the entire tract, as well as the German-American Club, which agreed to relocate.
The plan for the Highland subdivision includes 71 single-family homes, 72 town homes, a 2.2 acre park and 5.5 acres of commercial property, along with three detentions ponds, Weber said.
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Though commissioners had a favorable view of the plan as a whole, they took issue with a request that commercial and industrial zoning be allowed to revert to a residential category if the land isn’t developed in three years.
Commercial and industrial property produces more beneficial tax revenue for schools than residential, and Mokena Elementary School District 159 had favored more of that type of development for the area, not less.
“I think the compromise would be in favor the schools,” Planning Commission Chairman Robert Horras said.
In other business, commissioners deferred a vote on a request for a special use allowing an auto body business with outdoor storage at 9525 W. Enterprise Drive in the La Grange Ridge Business Park.
Residents, such as Lee Martin, who lives near the area, said they don’t want the noise and pollution an auto body shop would bring.