Geneva City Council gives nod to mega warehouse plan on east side

In a series of split votes at a special meeting Monday, Geneva alderpersons approved a 55.62-acre annexation which will include a 719,200-square-foot warehouse.

The vote was 10-0 for annexation with Mayor Kevin Burns voting yes and Fifth Ward Alderperson Craig Maladra absent.

The other three votes were for:

• A Comprehensive Plan Amendment changing it from commercial to industrial

• A zoning map amendment to light industrial from rural single family upon annexation

• Site plan approval for a 719,200-square-foot industrial building and ancillary site improvements.

Alderpersons voted 6-3. All three nay votes were from Third Ward Alderpersons Becky Hruby and Dean Kilburg and Fifth Ward Alderperson Robert Swanson.

The site is generally east of Kirk Road between Old Kirk Road to the north and Fabyan Parkway to the south, City Administrator Stephanie Dawkins said.

“The applicant, Venture One Acquisitions LLC, is seeking to annex the property into the city to develop the site as a speculative industrial facility for one or two prospective tenants in line with the city’s ... light industrial zoning district,” Dawkins said.

In addition to the warehouse, it would include two access points and signalize the intersection off Kirk Road, which is across from the entrance to the Fox Valley Ice Arena, Dawkins said.

Another access point would be located off Dawn Boulevard at the south end of the site, she said.

The site would also feature 119 dock positions, four drive-in doors, 555 car parking spaces, and 145 trailer parking spaces, records show.

In a 4-1 vote May 9, the Planning and Zoning Commission did not recommend approval.

Community Development Director David DeGroot said the signal would relieve pressure from additional traffic at the existing lights at Fabyan Parkway and Kirk Road and Illinois Route 38 and Kirk.

“That signal could also relieve pressure from the Fox Valley Ice Arena and from the Cougar Stadium when they have events,” DeGroot said.

Andrew Bowen, a traffic engineer with KLOA Inc., said adding a signal would create another point where people stop on Kirk Road – but it would have a very small impact.

“This would be an actuated signal and it would give almost all of the green time to through traffic,” Bowen said. “It would stop pretty irregularly. This is partially because it will be coordinated with the Kirk and Fabyan signal, which is a pretty long cycle length. And since the development itself won’t generate that much traffic, it only needs a small percent of that cycle ... like 90% of the time, it’s going to be like through traffic.”

Mark Goode of Venture One said the city’s South East Master Plan states the area “may be best suited for light industrial land use as an extension of the land uses to the south and east.”

Goode said it will take 15 to 18 months to build. He said he does not have a tenant yet, but as a developer of larger buildings, he expects to be leased by the time it’s completed by December 2025 or spring 2026.

Based on a similar-sized building in Huntley, Goode said 60% is already leased by the Sanfilippo nut company.

“A lot of people can build smaller buildings and they’re very competitive about it,” Goode said. “Chicago is the second largest industrial market in the country, it’s the most vibrant industrial market in the country right now.”

Second Ward Alderperson Bradley Kosirog asked why the parcel was originally marked for commercial as opposed to industrial.

“The South East Master Plan was adopted by the city in 2012,” DeGroot said. “At that time, there were plans to really improve the Settlers Hill area with an amphitheater, hotel, other recreational uses. The idea was the site could support those commercial uses as well as the Cougar stadium and the ice rink. That development has not occurred since that time.”

One issue for 5th Ward Alderperson Robert Swanson is the size of the development as well as the number of other warehouses in the area.

“The residents on the east side of Geneva are just tired of it,” Swanson said. “They would like to see a pause and wonder when it’s going to end. Any time you walk down Kirk Road – which I do – I have to restart my podcast because I can’t hear it. Because it is a loud street. And it’s only going to get worse.”

Swanson said with this development, the city is adding more truck traffic to the area.

“We are guaranteeing that all those trucks are going to start and stop their day in Geneva,” Swanson said. “I side with the residents on the east side of Geneva. I think they’re right, they’re seeking the landscape around them deteriorate and they’d like to see us doing something about it.”

But Second Ward Alderperson Bradley Kosirog countered, saying, “This, to me, is the project we would be waiting for.”

“It’s clear – and you cannot argue with – that this is going to be an industrial area. I just don’t even understand what commercial would be successful in the middle of a bunch of industrial buildings,” Kosirog said.

A plus is the developer’s website shows quality buildings, he said.

“This is not a crappy old warehouse building on the side of the road, that I think a lot of emails were implying,” Kosirog said. “This is a beautiful building ... I just think this is what we were waiting for.”