Despite concerns that a proposed factory near Wood Dale would lower property values, cause flooding and increase traffic, city officials are moving ahead on the project, saying the expansion won’t cause difficulties for nearby residents.
Wood Dale’s Zoning Board of Appeals has voted to recommend rezoning five acres across the street from the current Tempco Electric facility at 607 N. Central Ave. from residential to industrial.
If approved by the City Council, the rezoning would allow Tempco to build an approximately 100,000-square-foot building in two phases on the west side of the street in what is now unincorporated DuPage County.
The land, which would need to be annexed to the city before the zoning could be changed, is bordered on three sides by houses that form part of a 104-home residential neighborhood.
Officials have said the area of the proposed factory is designated manufacturing in the city’s comprehensive plan. Any zoning would be contingent on the property being annexed into the city.
But some residents say the factory would cause problems for its neighbors.
“My property value would drop,” Joe Long told Zoning Board of Appeals members during a hearing at City Hall, which about 70 people attended.
Long, who has led a petition drive against the project, said a real estate agent advised him that his home’s assessed value would remain the same, but its actual value would fall if the new facility were built.
Tempco owner Fermin Adames said after the meeting he could not comment on whether property values of surrounding neighbors would change if the new facility moved in. But, he said, if residential areas in the city were converted to industrial developments, they would command higher prices.
“Industrial developers will pay more for the tract of land because it’s industrial,” Adames said.
Tempco’s legal counsel, Edmund Burke, said the tract of land should be used for industrial purposes because the city’s comprehensive plan designates the area for manufacturing.
“We have a right to this zoning,” Burke told the board.
Residents also raised concerns about increased traffic in the area. But Adames said traffic would not increase because of the new building.
“Traffic will be limited and really will not be increased,” Adames said.
Tempco, at 607 N. Central Ave., bought the property across the street about six months ago. The proposed facility would be a high-tech storage and assembly structure, city officials said.
The plan calls for the plant to be built in two phases. In the first phase, a 48,000-square-foot building would be constructed and, in the second phase, 45,000 square feet would be added.
Although some of those concerned about the project don’t live within the city limits, they have long considered themselves part of the greater Wood Dale area, said Long, who has spearheaded the rezoning fight and petition drive opposing the project.
Long said he doesn’t understand how Wood Dale leaders can rezone an area designated by the county as residential.
If the facility is constructed, Long said, he and others will be forced to move.
“It’s a domino effect,” he said. “If it goes up, we are moving. We’ll sell, then that’ll make others sell.”
DuPage County Board member Roger Jenisch said the county can do nothing to help the homeowners. If the city grants the request and annexes the property, he said, it would appear the city is permitting “spot zoning,” the practice of zoning isolated parcels without regard for the surrounding property, a policy the county opposes.
Assistant City Manager Sue Letnicky said the notion of spot zoning has not been brought up by city leaders.
“Rezoning has everything to do with the comprehensive plan, and (Tempco’s request) is completely in line with that,” she added.
Ald. Dave Tolemy said he is leaning toward voting against the zoning change when it comes before the City Council. The alderman, whose ward would include the parcel if it were annexed, considers the comprehensive plan simply a vision statement.
Tolemy said there might be a solution that would satisfy all parties, such as Tempco expanding into a nearby, existing building.
“It’s not just the factory, it’s all the space variations,” Tolemy said. “When you’re surrounded on three sides by homes, do you put a factory in? You don’t.”
