Naperville wants stricter zoning to stop warehouses and distribution centers from being built along I-88
A few tweaks to the Naperville zoning code could keep warehouse facilities and distribution centers out of the city’s Interstate 88 research and design corridor.
The Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday will evaluate ordinance changes that will give the city greater control over where large warehouse, storage and distribution facilities can be built, particularly in regards to areas zoned for office, research and light industrial, known as ORI.
The majority of the city’s 122 ORI-zoned properties are located in office centers along the I-88 corridor.
Mayor Scott Wehrli said at a council meeting last month that concerns have been raised about the negative effects such truck-based facilities can have on residential and office properties. They not only have poor visual aesthetics but they can produce traffic, noise and light pollution and sometimes operate day and night, he said.
Christine Jeffries, president and CEO of the Naperville Development Partnership, speaking at the same meeting, said warehouse and distribution centers generally create fewer job opportunities and generate less in property taxes for the city, schools and parks.
Jeffries cited as an example the differences between the Hub 1415 office building, formerly Tellabs, at 1415 W. Diehl Road, which has about 750,000 square feet, and the 720,000-square-foot Dart warehouse on Ferry Road.
When comparing 2019 property taxes, Hub 1415 paid $1.2 million compared to $650,000 paid by the warehouse owner, Jeffries said.
City records show there are nine warehouses in Naperville on ORI-zoned property, of which eight are along Corporate Lane north of Ferry Road and east of Route 59 and one is on Diehl Road, west of Route 59.
A year ago, Naperville took steps to tamp down the number of inquiries from companies seeking to develop industrial warehouses in the I-88 corridor.
One was from INEOS Americas, which purchased the BP research and development unit and its 178-acre property at 150 Warrenville Road, between Washington and Mill streets. The company began marketing the property for warehouse development.
That didn’t sit well with city leaders, who made it clear they don’t want to add more industrial warehousing along I-88. The council tightened its zoning code to force developers of warehouse, storage and distribution facilities to jump through additional hoops as part of a lengthy approval process and mandated that projects be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
The newly elected mayor last month said he wasn’t sure the council’s move provided the city with enough protection, and asked staff and the planning and zoning commission to take another look at the city’s zoning code.
Proposed changes include striking warehouse and storage facilities established after Feb. 16, 2022, from the list of conditional uses allowed in an ORI district.
The new wording also would define an ORI district as “intended to provide an environment suitable for and limited to research and development activities, engineering and testing activities, and office uses that will not have an adverse effect upon the environmental quality of the community.”
The push came as Oak Brook-based Franklin Partners, the new owner of the vacant former Alcatel-Lucent office building at 1960 Lucent Lane, was considering a proposal for a warehouse project on the 40-acre site at the northwest corner of Warrenville and Naperville roads.
In a June 1 letter to the city, Scott Day, an attorney representing the owner, said the city has made it clear that industrial warehousing is something “the current City Council would prefer to remove as a land use permitted as a conditional use within the ORI zoning district.”
For that reason, Day said, his client has shifted efforts to a plan that would establish a technology-focused campus on the site.
A hearing for the proposed ORI zoning changes will be held by the commission at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Naperville Municipal Center.
