ALSIP
Planned church hits roadblock
The Alsip Planning and Zoning Commission has been asked to reconsider a recommendation it made to allow a church to operate at 12400 S. Keeler Ave.
Rev. Walter Tucker of Brookfield is seeking a special-use permit in an area zoned industrial to hold worship services, Saturday Bible classes and Sunday school, said commission Chairman Rocky Golomb.
When the special use was considered in April, the commission was unaware that the American Lawmen Motorcycle Club, which serves and sells alcoholic beverages, is located one block from the proposed church. A village ordinance prohibits churches to operate within 300 feet of an establishment where liquor is sold.
“In this case the liquor establishment was there first,” Golomb said.
The Village Board, the final authority for granting special uses in all zoning districts, turned the matter back to the commission. A hearing is scheduled for July 11.
The commission also is scheduled to update the zoning map. Golomb said the commission is likely to recommend that churches be eliminated from permitted uses within farming districts. Existing churches would be grandfathered in.
Barbara Dargis
CHICAGO HEIGHTS
City sells land for supermarket
An 18,000-square-foot supermarket is planned for the southeast side of Chicago Heights by early next year.
The city has sold 1.6 acres in the 1600 block of Chicago Road to Los Compadres Inc. so the owners, Tereso Gamboa and Domingo Cabral, can build a store three times the size of their grocery in the 1900 block of Chicago.
The new store would employ about 40 new full-time and some part-time employees, and would include a bakery and a large fast-food section, the owners’ representatives said.
The owners plan to spend between $1.8 million and $2 million on the supermarket, to be built north of the old expo center site. They will pay $5,000 for the land, which the city wants to get back on the tax rolls.
The agreement with the city for the land calls for the building to be substantially finished by January, and they plan to start building by September at the latest, architect Nick Scarlatis said.
Director of Economic Development Joe Kudrow said the city is doing everything it can to bring this supermarket to the 2nd Ward and close to the 3rd Ward, which has no supermarkets.
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James D. Wolf Jr.
FRANKFORT
Homeowners to get property tax rebate
Shopping locally is paying off for Frankfort residents.
The Village Board voted this week to use extra sales-tax revenues to give homeowners a break.
The town’s sales tax revenue “continues to grow,” Trustee Cindy Heath said, and that growth means homeowners will get a refund amounting to about 25 percent of the village’s portion of the property tax bill. It’s a tradition begun eight years ago.
Village Manager Jerry Ducay referred to a recent brief decline in sales tax revenue as a “hiccup.” Ducay said sales tax income is “back on track,” with $4.9 million in sales tax coming into the village in March.
Eight years ago, he said, sales tax revenues for the period were slightly more than $1 million.
“This points up the value of shopping in Frankfort,” he said.
Mayor Jim Holland said residents can expect to get their application forms for the tax rebate during the first week of July, and the applications must be returned by July 31.
In addition to the application form, homeowners must submit three other pieces of documentation — a copy of the home’s 2005 property tax bill, a copy of the owner’s driver’s license or state identification card and a copy of a utility bill addressed to the applicant.
Pat Harper
JOLIET
City offers tax deal to Andrew Corp.
Joliet officials voted to offer Andrew Corp. a tax rebate that could net the city $3 million over 15 years.
“It could be more,” City Manager John Mezera said this week. “Their sales have been up substantially in the last three years.” He estimated Andrew’s Illinois sales at $14 million annually.
The proposal approved at Tuesday’s City Council meeting would establish Joliet as the official point of sale for all transactions by Andrew to Illinois buyers. In return, Joliet would rebate 35 percent of that sales tax to Andrew. The tentative agreement is the result of four months of negotiations, Mezera said.
He told the council Andrew had a similar agreement with Orland Park, where it was a longtime fixture. But when Andrew left Orland Park, it relocated its corporate headquarters and sales arm to Westchester and moved much of the manufacturing to Joliet’s Cherry Hill Industrial Park.
Andrew Corp. designs, manufactures and delivers equipment and services for the global communications infrastructure market.
Dennis Sullivan
PLAINFIELD
Contractor hired to find water leaks
Plainfield has hired Associated Technical Services to inspect and repair its entire water system and to find any leaking water.
The Village Board this week approved the $24,948 contract with the Villa Park company. Village Administrator Chris Minick said that after the repairs are complete, the village would experience a reduction of water loss of more than 50,000 gallons per day.
And because Plainfield buys its water from Illinois American Co., the village will save money in the long run. Minick estimated that the village would save $56,700 annually if all the leaks are found.
Also this week, trustees approved a master plan for the Plainfield riverfront that would improve and encourage development along the DuPage River corridor. The plan would encompass a stretch from Illinois Highway 59 to Renwick Road.
Patricia Trebe