Minooka bus barn plan to advance despite annexation glitch
By Kris Stadalsky For The Herald-News August 30, 2012 11:12AM
Updated: October 3, 2012 6:11AM
MINOOKA — A glitch in the annexation agreement shouldn’t affect the purchase of the former 84 Lumber site by the two Minooka school districts in the long run.
Minooka high and grade school districts are in the process of purchasing the property in a joint venture to remodel into a bus barn.
As the annexation agreement stands, the school districts cannot occupy the property on Minooka Road because government services are prohibited, Village Administrator Dan Duffy told the board of trustees Tuesday night.
A separate piece of property adjacent to the site was found to prohibit overnight parking in the annexation agreement, which is a problem for an undisclosed interested party. Both parcels were annexed in the same agreement.
The school districts will need to petition the village for an amendment to the annexation agreement, which is expected to be on the September agenda and to pass without incident.
“The village has assured us that it is not an issue but that we need to have an amendment approved,” grade school Superintendent Al Gegenheimer said.
Prior to the intended purchase by the school districts, Village Christian Church was interested in turning the 12.79-acre parcel with 42,000 combined square feet of facility space into a church and school.
However, it needed a zoning change from manufacturing to commercial to move forward.
Trustees voted down the zoning change request in June in a 4-1 vote with one member absent.
The two issues are completely different, said Duffy on Tuesday night. The village’s own zoning laws are what prohibit churches, schools and daycare centers in the commercial and manufacturing district.
The annexation agreement was created specifically with 84 Lumber in mind and those were terms it requested at the time, said Duffy.
“It’s part of what the property owners wanted,” said Duffy.
In the meantime, the village has been working with Village Christian Church to find an alternate location in Minooka, Duffy said.
The adjacent property will also need an amended annexation agreement. The interested party has a need to park service vehicles overnight and overnight parking, which is not allowed. According to Duffy, the service vehicles do not refer to semi trailers or trucks.
The property will cost the districts $2 million, which they will split. The purchase price is $1 million less than the current EAV of the property, Gegenheimer said.
