Franklin Park officials believe a car dealership proposed for a vacant lot across the border in an unincorporated area of Leyden Township would be bad for the village.
Trustees at their April 16 meeting approved a resolution asking the Cook County board to reject the zoning request for the dealership.
Easy Car Loans Inc. is asking the county to grant the business special use approval to put a dealership on the roughly half-acre lot at the southwest corner of Mannheim Road and Diversey Avenue, on the line between Franklin Park and an unincorporated area of the township.
According to the village resolution, passed as part of a unanimous consent agenda vote, the project “will have a negative impact on the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhood and burden the business and residential properties surrounding the property.”
“The resolution is pretty influential,” said James Harris, the Cook County zoning board of appeals planner. He said the action triggers a required supermajority — or 13 yes votes — from the county board in order for the proposal to be approved.
Among the village’s concerns are the property’s location in a floodway and the developer’s plan to sell cars on a gravel lot.
“The property’s really never been maintained very well,” said Franklin Park Mayor Barrett Pedersen, who noted that years ago the lot housed a Shell oil station.
Pedersen said if the property were to be developed, the occupant would need to demonstrate that the lot had been assessed by an engineer and show compliance with the metropolitan water reclamation district’s stormwater management ordinance. Pedersen is a member of the county zoning board, which is expected in early May to consider the proposal for recommendation to the county board.
John Schneider, community development and zoning director for Franklin Park, said he would like to see the property paved, fenced and lighted in a way that aligns with the village’s requirements. He said codes are more lax in Cook County than in most municipalities. Schneider also expressed concern that oil from cars at the dealership leaking on gravel could contaminate the ground.
However, Felix Gonzalez, the attorney representing Easy Car Loans, said the village wants the developer to spend thousands of dollars on expert assessments before receiving any indication that the business will be approved.
“My client is frustrated, and I know the property owner is frustrated,” he said.
The owner has testified he can’t install an asphalt parking lot because the property is in a floodway, according to Gonzalez, who said the zoning board wants an engineer to validate that the lot is poorly suited for paving. The various environmental studies and related costs for asphalt, curbing and permitting could total $60,000 to $80,000, he said.
Gonzalez also said that south of the property there are other auto businesses with mixed gravel lots. The west side of Mannheim Road directly south of the lot is unincorporated, according to Cook County’s geographic information systems.
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The developer has plans for signage and lighting, Gonzalez said, but the village wants Easy Car Loans to hire a landscape architect, and the desired studies and beautification work could be as much as $10,000.
“We feel that we’re being singled out and being treated unfairly,” Gonzalez said.
Anna Bybee-Schier is a freelancer.