A project that could bring hundreds of jobs to the Springfield area took a step forward despite concerns from residents.
The zoning agenda on Tuesday had council members vote on the proposed variances to move the warehouse forward.
The warehouse, which will be located on Palm Road at the southwest corner of the Chatham and Interstate 55 interchange, is currently being used as farmland with two large billboards. Texas resident John Kovski, manager for Lakeview Acres LLC, filed a request for variances on the 30-acre land.
Kovski intends to sell the property to a developer who will construct an almost 227,000-square-foot industrial warehouse with a 10-foot site security fence, a 12,00-square-foot office and more 5,000-square-foot fleet car garage. While Becknell and the city has not formally confirmed who will be the end user of the building, sources told The State Journal-Register in June Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of Pepsico, will use the location.
One of the main areas of concern for residents like Melissa Smith was traffic.
“Our (school) bus routes use Lakewood Drive,” Smith said. “Eight to 10 at buses at Glenarm intermediate use those routes everyday … They use Lakewood Drive to turn left to go pick up Springfield students because the bus barn is right just to the southwest.”
Taylor Bass, development manager for Becknell Industrial who is working with the end-user of the warehouse, made a presentation explaining why the variances were needed, and addressed the traffic concerns.
Bass said a traffic study would be done on Palm Road with the Illinois Department of Transportation during the school season to monitor bus routes and traffic. If needed, stop lights or signs could potentially be added to the area to curb traffic impediment.
The council voted to approve the variances with Becknell in a vote 6-3, with Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory not present. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended to accept the variance changes for the warehouse to the council.
Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams Jr., Ward 4 Ald. Larry Rockford and Ward 6 Ald. Jennifer Notariano voted in opposition to the variance changes.
“If you have a hard time with traffic, I don’t know how you’re going to put up with more semis and more trucks,” Rockford said. “I feel for you – I’m all for jobs and I wish there was more discussion.”
Bass said the location was chosen for its previous I-1 industrial zoning and location to utilities like sewage, water and gas to the facility. Bass also said the location near the interchange would provide easy transit.
“You don’t build on an exchange,” O’Connor said in retort. “You build somewhere near an exchange, but they want to build on an exchange with (residential) buildings on both sides of where they want to build.”
Several residents from Glenarm and Springfield said Redpath did not return calls leading up to the meeting and felt let down to see in the meeting Redpath voting yes for the variances granted for the new warehouse.
O’Connor said he knows that the alderpersons care about their districts and the greater Springfield community, and simply asked a rhetorical – if each of the alderpersons would want this factory built near their own neighborhoods.
“This decision is in your hands all of you,” O’Connor said. “We all know that you’re under a lot of pressure. We don’t have any attorneys. The people you’re speaking to are the people who live there.”
Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted
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