Channahon board eyes ordinance change to allow garage
By Jeanne Millsap - Herald Correspondent
CHANNAHON – The village board and president told two residents Monday evening they will do what they can to try to let the family build its garage, even though doing so would be against current village ordinance.
After the village Planning and Zoning Commission denied them a variance from local setback laws, Raymond and Cindy Smith, of 24944 S. Willard Street, went before the village board Monday to ask for help.
Theirs is an older neighborhood, they said, and they cited several examples of neighboring properties that wouldn’t comply with the village’s current ordinances.
Even their own home, they said, shares one lot with another house. And none of their neighbors mind, the Smith’s said, if their new garage is a little bit closer than local laws allow.
The board saw both sides of the issue.
The P & Z Commission has a legal obligation to uphold village ordinances, village attorney Dave Silverman told the couple, unless it sees clearly there is a hardship involved, which they believe is not the case in this matter.
The Smiths want to build a garage behind their house in which to park their vehicles and, possibly, their boats. Village code requires a 10-foot sideyard setback from the property line, though, and the Smiths were asking for a five-foot setback.
It’s really the only way it will work, they said, considering the septic field, some mature trees, having garage doors in the front and in the back, and being able to pull in straight from the front, rather than at an angle.
All board members said they were in favor of trying to help the family.
Silverman said the village board cannot overrule the P & Z Commission. The couple can go to court, he said, or they can go back to the commission on an appeal.
An appeal probably wouldn’t do much good, though, if the laws were the same, so trustees agreed to consider making an amendment to the zoning ordinance for the older neighborhoods in the village. The board could consider the change in its next meeting, July 6, after which the Smiths could take the matter back to the commission.
The village board Monday also spent some time discussing another subdivision.
Marc Skaggs, the developer of Deer Ridge subdivision, asked the village to reduce the amount of money in his improvement completion guarantees, since work on the subdivision is 95 percent done.
The board agreed to the request, after hearing confirmation from staff that the work is, indeed, close to completion.
However, trustees had a problem with another request.
Skaggs was also asking Channahon to remove the parkway tree installation as part of the developer’s job.
The board agreed with the concept of not planting trees right now, before houses were built.
“The trees might die if no homeowners were there,” Trustee Jerry Papesh said.
In the end, the board agreed to allow the developer to place the trees at the time of occupancy.
