Johnsburg says no to Kelley’s Market convenience store amid resident pushback

Regional convenience store chain Kelley’s Market will not be building a location at Route 31 and Johnsburg Road.

In front of a large crowd of residents, many opposed to the gas station, the Johnsburg Village Board this week unanimously turned down a request from the Kelley Williams Co. seeking a zoning change and special-use permit for a site on the northeast corner of Route 31 and Johnsburg Road.

“Traffic is the No. 1 concern we have heard from residents,” Trustee Beth Foreman said.

It was traffic concerns that may have killed the project for Johnsburg.

Trustee Joshua Hagen recalled that the company that did the traffic study for Kelley Williams, KLOA Inc., also performed a traffic analysis for another Johnsburg project, the 49 Tuckaway Townhomes development across the street.

Trustees were under the assumption that the McHenry County Division of Transportation would allow left-turn lanes out of both entrances for that housing development, Hagen said. However, only right-in/right-out access was approved by the county agency.

Although the Illinois Department of Transportation approved right-in/right-out access on Route 31 for the proposed convenience store, the McDOT approvals have not been finalized. Kelley Williams asked the county for right- and left-turn lanes off a rebuilt Hamlin Drive onto Johnsburg Road.

Tuckaway Townhomes – a workforce rental housing development – asked the county for a similar, three-quarters intersection, Johnsburg village engineer Tim Hartnett said. That type of entrance allows both left- and right-in, but only right turns out onto a main road.

The townhouse developers “were willing to spend the money with engineering and traffic consultants, but in the worst-case scenario said they ... will live with right-in and right-out. That is what is there today,” Hartnett said.

If the village approved the convenience store development before McDOT approved access to Johnsburg Road, the village would have to accept whatever the county decided.

Residents also were concerned about the store’s plan to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Kelley Williams hoped to build a 6,000-square-foot convenience store with a Which Wich sandwich restaurant, gas and diesel fueling islands, and a drive-thru car wash.

A motion to limit the car wash’s hours of operation and to make village approval contingent on McDOT’s acceptance of the expanded access to Johnsburg Road was voted down before the final vote.

Foreman questioned whether any business would consider the corner for future development.

“People are not investing in new brick-and-mortar. It is a specific money-making enterprise that can afford to make that investment,” Foreman said. “If we say no, what is the next opportunity?”

It is a “challenging lot” that is not the right one for the business, Trustee Greg Klemstein said, but he told the Kelley Williams representative that he would “love to see your gas station in our town.”