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News
Montgomery panel says 'no' to church in an industrial area : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisMontgomery panel says 'no' to church in an industrial area
| Property owner tells officials of vacancies
| by John Etheredge
| 2/4/2010
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A Montgomery Village Board committee unanimously agreed last week that they don't want to permit churches to locate in areas zoned for manufacturing use in the village.
Michael Brown, a village planner, told the board's economic development committee Thursday he had been contacted by a building owner on Cornell Avenue who had received a request from a church to locate in one of his buildings.
"The church is looking to hold services in the building Sundays and, possibly, have office hours during the week," Brown said.
"The property owner said with the current economy tenants come and go and he is having problems with vacancies, so he wanted to see if a church would be permitted," Brown said.
Brown said he explained to the property owner that the village's zoning ordinance does not permit churches to operate in areas that are zoned for manufacturing use like his and others along Cornell Avenue.
Brown noted that the zoning ordinance permits churches to operate in the village as special uses in areas zoned for residential and business uses only.
Referring to the property owner's request, board member Robert Watermann said, "I would not be in favor of it."
"I would not be in favor of it at all," said Village President Marilyn Michelini.
"We shouldn't have churches in manufacturing districts," Michelini continued. "I agree with the property owner that it is difficult to find tenants, but having a church in there could (serve to) turn away other tenants for that area."
Board member Pete Heinz said he agreed with Michelini and Watermann.
Plans for Arby's on
Orchard Rd. on hold
In other business, the committee learned that previously approved plans to construct an Arby's restaurant in the Blackberry Creek retail center at 2011 Orchard Road are indefinitely on hold.
The information was provided to the committee in a monthly building activity report prepared by the village's community development department.
Heinz said he was not surprised that the Arby's project has stalled.
"I wouldn't count on them, period," Heinz said. "They've (Arby's) shut down a bunch of them-even that one up on (North) Lake Street (in Aurora) out by the old Sears store."
"That's an historic one," Watermann said.
When questioned by board member Andy Kaczmarek, Jerad Chipman, a planner for the village, said plans for the Arby's restaurant were approved by the board two years ago, but the firm never took a final step by obtaining a building permit.
"It's kind of up to them if they want to start," Chipman said of Arby's officials. "I don't know if their special use has expired yet, but if it hasn't, they could just come in, tell us they have their plans approved and go ahead and build."
"But you wouldn't think they are going to come in here and build if they are shutting a bunch of them down," Heinz said.
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