Collinsville City Council Approves Site Plan For New Public Works Complex
The Collinsville City Council voted on August 25 to approve rezoning 19.8 acres at 511 and 513 Johnson Hill Road, previously owned by Petroff Trucking before the city bought it 3 years ago, for the cities new Public Works Facility.
The centrally located property will allow for central consolidation of street and water departments, as well as build a facility designed for maintenance operations to service and repair the city’s fleet vehicles. Only 3.5 acres in the center of the property will be developed. All of the vegetative buffers along the outside of the property will remain, with an additional 2 rows of 10-12 foot evergreen trees planted along the perimeter to act as a noise buffer for the surrounding residences.
Features of the new facility include box style storage, sand, gravel, and material storage, covered salt storage, fuel storage, an administration building, and 47 parking spaces. The main access will be off Jonson Hill Rd, with emergency access only off Juda.
The other major piece of legislation approved during the meeting was repealing and replacing Section 17.060.260 (Development Guidelines; Nonresidential Uses In All Districts) and 17.080 (Landscaping, Screening, and Buffering of Title 17 Zoning of the Code of Ordinances. The new requirements include two massing elements every 100 feet on the front of all new commercial development except for warehouses. The front of each building also must contain three visible materials (including windows) on the front with two design elements (awnings, columns, decorative tile work, etc) and a checklist of landscaping elements to be included.
The intent of the new design regulations are to “Create transitions and relationships among the adjacent developments and neighborhoods; create value, identity and character within neighborhoods and districts through diverse architectural styles and variety of design details; reduce monotony of design in single or multiple building projects and promote variation of detail, form, and site design to provide visual interest; activate public streetscapes and other public or community spaces with pedestrian scale design elements; avoid blank walls and long, uninterrupted facades along streets and other public or community spaces; strengthen building character through the use of a variety of quality and sustainable building materials; protect the privacy of residences adjacent to commercial or industrial uses; protect adjacent residences from glare resulting in reflective materials; ensure that rooflines present a distinct profile and appearance for the building; and ensure that the primary building entrance is easily identifiable and clearly visible from streets and sidewalks.”
The new landscape regulations are designed to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional living environment to protect and enhance property values by conserving trees and by requiring the plantings of trees and other vegetation; create a transitional interface between conflicting and incompatible lands by providing landscaped buffer areas and screening; provide for the preservation of larger native trees, which provide a valuable amenity to the urban and suburban environment and prevent damage to and unnecessary removal of these trees during the land development process; provide landscaped areas within parking lots which are designed to facilitate movement of traffic, break-up large areas of impervious surfaces, provide shade, buffer, and screen adjacent properties; and promote the use of native plants that are more adaptable to the local climate extremes, are drought tolerant, low maintenance, and thus provide a sustainable, ecologically balanced environment. A minimum number of points based on the property’s square footage must be earned for the landscaping to be approved, and include a stormwater management system, such as retaining ponds.
Several proclamations, awards and honors were bestowed by Mayor John Miller during the meeting, most notably a proclamation for 50 years of emergency medical services in Collinsville. Collinsville was the first known Illinois municipality south of Chicago to offer emergency medial services on July 20, 1970.
WWII POW Robert “Bob”Teichgraber was recognized for celebrating his 100th birthday on August 22.
The Community Appearance Board Yard of the Month winners for May through August were announced. May’s winner was Eric Samuels on 12 Delta Dr., Junes’ was Danny and Patty Lutz on 1009 Edwards St., July was Phyllis Kessler at 725 Maple St. and August’s was Denise Purcell at 146 Helen Pl.
During Comments from the Mayor, Mayor John Miller stressed the importance of restaurants and bars following the new mandate that all staff wear a mask when and that customers wear masks when interacting with their staff. Miller said the state liquor control board approved giving local liquor commissioners the authority to suspend liquor licenses for 7 days without a hearing if COVID-19 rules are not followed, and they will take such action as necessary.
The lease for the Gateway Fun Park from L&N Partners and Sublease to HCI was extended until the end of the year.
New ordinances were passed extending the Declaration of Local Public Heath Emergencies and the Authorization for the City Manager to act during the State of Emergency and Local Disaster every 28 days until the Mayor reminds the State of Emergency.
Fireworks for Labor Day Weekend at Collinsville Water Park were cancelled. The Parks Department hopes to have the event next Memorial Day.
