Glen Carbon Board approves plans for new church, dental office
By Kathy Turner • Glen Carbon will begin seeing work on two new construction projects after approval by the board on Jan. 13.
First included approval of a final plat and a site plan for the New Hope Church. The construction will take place on Route 159, just south of the Fields Crossing subdivision.
The plan is for a building just over 24,000-square-feet. The property was zoned late last year in preparation for the construction. In addition to the church, there will be one residence on the property. Both will be accessed by a single driveway off of Route 159.
The second approval was for the site plan for Heartland Dental in the Orchard Town Center. This will be a 4,260-square-feet facility just east of the Olive Garden restaurant.
Erika Heil, director of community development, presented the board a resolution to revise the village code to recognize solar generating devices in the village that are standalone. They are described as solar collection mechanisms mounted on 15-feet-tall poles in the parking lots of commercial buildings only. Heil explained that this is something that isn’t addressed in the current codes.
Board members questioned whether the pole-mounted collection devices will be one per pole or if multiple units could be mounted on a pole in a stacked manner. Heil stated that she felt that the poles would not hold more than one device, however, she couldn’t state that this is the case. Board members rescinded their initial motion to approve the change and asked Heil to return it to committee for review prior to board approval.
The board approved a property owner’s requested annexation of property owned by LLSM. The property is located just west of the Mary Jane’s Oak Furniture store and on both sides of Interstate 270. There was some discussion that the property, or parts of it, may have been rezoned earlier but the ordinance was written to reflect that possibility.
Ameren was granted authorization to maintain both gas and electrical utility service systems in the village. This is part of the franchise agreements with the village. The new contract reflects a level cost factor for the gas service with an increase in cost for the electrical service.
The board approved a new contract with Schrempf, Kelly and Napp, Ltd. to provide legal services for the village. The contract reflects a minimal increase to $10,284 for the monthly retainer.
Internet services for the village will be provided by New Horizons Communications with the approval of a new contract effective Jan. 1. They will provide services for all Internet connections in the village. Spectrum will be kept in place as a backup to assure continued connection, particularly for dispatching and emergency departments.
Finally, the board approved the purchase of a 2026 Ford Explorer from Weber Ford in Granite City. The vehicle will be part of the village fleet for departmental use.
The next meeting of the board will be held on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.
