A landowner’s plan to build a sports complex at Parker Road and U.S. Highway 6 puts a business use too close to homes and churches, the New Lenox Plan Commission ruled this week.
David Gust is asking the Will County Board to rezone his 19-acre parcel from agricultural to commercial so he can build an ice arena for the area’s young hockey players, including his own children.
Gust said the quiet area, which is near homes and churches, would be a safe place for parents to drop off their children for hockey practice and, as the enterprise expands, for other sports, such as soccer.
He said the neighboring property owners and the pastors of nearby churches favor his plan.
Village planner Lee Cotton said the project is well-designed, but in the wrong location, and it will bring in a lot of extra traffic to an area earmarked for low-density residential development.
“It’s grossly out of character with the area,” said Cotton, adding that the building would be better located in a high-end commercial strip.”
Robin Traubenik, planning and development administrator, said the site is too far away from the designated U.S. Highway 6 commercial area west of Cedar Road.
Commissioners said they favor a recreation complex but not in the proposed location. “As a hockey parent, no one would like to see an ice arena in New Lenox more than me, but it’s in the wrong place,” Commissioner Robert Faford said.