Gary Common Council members will weigh plans in coming weeks for a pair of business owners who want to expand in the city – even though the city’s zoning board specifically failed to give its recommendation to one of the projects.
That project is calling for development of a used car dealership and an auto repair shop in the 4500 block of Broadway.
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The plot of land is zoned for business use, but has provisions specifically forbidding auto-related businesses from operating there. City officials would have to approve a use variance to allow the business.
Last month, the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals voted against giving the project its recommendation.
Sarah Kobetis, who is Gary’s deputy planning director, told the council’s Planning Committee on Tuesday she advised zoning board officials not to support the project because she thinks a car-related business would not be a good fit for the Broadway corridor.
“Putting it at this address would be at odds with the compliance plan for this stretch of Broadway,” she said.
However, several council members said they liked the idea of the business, particularly since its owner, Mohammad Y Al Azzah of Schererville, already owns one used car lot in Gary.
“We’re talking about someone who’s bringing cash into the city and wants to develop something here,” Councilwoman Mary Brown, D-3rd, said.
Council President Ronald Brewer agreed, saying the long-term plan referred to by Kobetis that reserves Broadway for banks and supermarkets does not do anything to bring businesses to Gary in the near future.
“I don’t see those types of businesses coming here in the next 20 years,” Brewer said. “We need businesses to come to Gary now if we’re to build our city’s tax base.”
Also supportive was Councilman Herb Smith, D-At large, who pointed out the large number of day care centers that exist in Gary and wondered why there should be concern about used car dealerships.
Kobetis said car lots are regarded by state officials as a different type of business, and also that the zoning change required for a used car lot on Broadway is such that it would be permanent – extending to future owners of the land.
The Common Council has the authority to approve the project if it desires.
The measure is expected to come before the full Common Council when it meets again June 19 at City Hall.
The council’s Planning Committee also reviewed another business proposal – one that would permit Christina Buckner of South Holland, Ill., to turn a home in the 4200 block of West 21st Avenue into a day care facility.
Buckner’s financial adviser, Keisha Clark, said the new facility, which she hopes to open by August, would also have a 15-person capacity, but could begin its operations with about 10 children being served.
Board of Zoning Appeals officials have recommended the project, but Smith, who chairs the Planning committee, said a final vote by the full Common Council likely would not occur until a July meeting.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.