Obscurity owners request zoning change for new property west of the brewery

The owners of Obscurity Brewery in Elburn accomplished the first step in obtaining a zoning change for a property they bought west of the brewery.

Members of the Elburn Plan Commission on Aug. 1 voted to recommend the change to the village board.

Brandon Harris, one of the owners, attended the commission's public hearing to discuss plans for the properties and respond to questions and concerns from neighbors.

Harris said he, Lucas Goucher and the other owners bought the four parcels from the Elburn Co-op a few years ago. The parcel that included buildings with addresses 217 and 225 W. North St. and the parcel south of it are zoned for commercial manufacturing. The other two parcels, west of the others, previously had been owned by the C&NW Railroad/Union Pacific Railroad and were never assigned a zoning classification.

"We want to change the zoning (to B-1 or central business district) to match what we're doing," Harris said.

The building at 217 W. North St., dubbed The Warehouse on North, has been available for commercial events, such as weddings and receptions, temporary retail operations and other special events.

Harris said a corner of the building at 225 W. North St., the old fertilizer building, would be used to install permanent bathrooms for use during the events, doing away with the port-a-potties there.

In addition to the Obscurity owners' zoning change request, they asked that the village add a commercial event center to the list of permitted uses for buildings zoned B-1. The definition for such a center would be "a building used for commercial events such as meetings, parties, weddings, receptions, live entertainment and temporary indoor/outdoor retail operations/special."

They also requested that game rooms be removed from the special uses list and added to the list of permitted uses for buildings zoned B-1.

Village Administrator John Nevenhoven said this would mean that the owner of any building zoned B-1 would not have to come before the plan commission or the village board for permission to use the building as a game room or a commercial event center.

Nevenhoven said the term "game room" would be used for places such as the old amusement arcades featuring pinball machines, dart boards and the like. He assured the people present that game rooms would not include slot machines or any video gambling.

"That's a whole different thing," he said.

Several residents who live in the area raised concerns during the public hearing. Bob King, who lives near the property, said he wanted to be assured that any remaining issues that storing fertilizer or other chemicals in the building might have caused would be dealt with and made safe for use by the public.

Harris told King those issues likely were dealt with when they bought the property through their due diligence, but if there was anything further to be done, they would do it.

"You know who we are," Harris said. "We pride ourselves in that. If we're going to do it, we'll do it right."

Karen Howard, another neighbor, said she remembers a huge reclamation that took place at that property. Her concern was that stormwater already is an issue in the neighborhood, and she was worried that an additional building or more parking lots would make the problem worse.

Nevenhoven agreed that stormwater is a "big issue."

"Before they start doing anything else on that property, we need to see stormwater improvements to that property," he said. "It is a puzzle to solve. It's something we are aware of and have discussed."

Commissioner Dave Anderson summed up his feelings about the changes. "Long-term, this is a wise decision to make for everybody involved," he said. "It'll improve your property values."

Harris said any further development is still just in conversations.

"We don't have a big war chest," he said. "There are still quite a few steps to go."

The next step will be for the village board to review the plan commission's recommendations and vote at a future board meeting.