The proposed rezoning of a stretch of Lake Zurich’s industrial district will have to wait until at least 2017, village officials said.
The zoning review, which is expected to last at least one year, will not begin before next year, when restructuring of the village’s building division is likely completed, Village President Tom Poynton said Monday.
“This is something we know we have to do, but at this point, we are too short-staffed to get it done,” Poynton said. “But it is on our to-do list.”
Poynton and trustees agreed during the Village Board’s Nov. 16 meeting that industrial property adjacent to Route 22 should be rezoned to allow a wider range of uses.
Interim Building and Zoning Manager Sam Hubbard said that process will likely take at least a year and would not be completed in time to meet the needs of a dance school that sought to locate in Lake Zurich.
Concern over the zoning of the Route 22 industrial property arose during a review of the proposed dance studio, whose representative withdrew his proposed application after it received a mixed response from the board and Hubbard confirmed the rezoning would not occur for at least a year.
“It took almost two years to update the industrial district,” Hubbard said. “The (Route 22) overlay would take a little less time, but at least a year.”
Restructuring of the Building and Zoning Division will eliminate two full-time positions, said Mike Earl, director of community services for the village. Restructuring became possible when four of the department’s six staff members left for new positions, Earl said.
A review of the proposed rezoning of the Route 22 industrial stretch will not occur until new employees are hired and Hubbard and his staff get the help needed to take on such a project, Poynton said.
“There was no timetable,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re a little short of staff and can’t put it on current people filling in. We hope to get it started sometime in 2016, but there is no specific timetable for it yet.”
Rezoning the industrial parcels adjacent to Route 22 was proposed during the two-year industrial zoning review that ended in 2014, Hubbard said in a report to the board. That property was identified as “potentially appropriate” for a mix of office, light-industrial and commercial uses, he said.
“The long-term goal of the Industrial Zoning District Working Group was to have this land either rezoned to a newly created zoning district that would accommodate for this unique range of uses or establish an overlay zoning district that would allow for this unique range of uses,” Hubbard said.
Because the village has not yet adopted the zoning change, allowing the dance academy to move to the stretch adjacent to Route 22 would open the door for similar non-industrial uses in the entire industrial park, he said.
Mike Schroeder, owner of PS Holdings, LLC, who represented the dance school, urged the board to begin the rezoning process as soon as possible.
“It’s already a mixed use area,” Schroeder said. “If you’re looking to attract business to Lake Zurich, that is an area ripe for that type of activity, just like the dance studio and others coming.”
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press
Twitter @PhilRockrohr
