Batavia moving to rezone former factory site

Nearly two years after closing its west-side Batavia factory complex, Siemens Energy and Automation has told the city it intends to apply for a demolition permit to tear it down.

Batavia planning officials, taking that as a sign that some sort of sale and redevelopment may be coming sooner rather than later, want to make sure another factory is not built on the site at McKee Street and Van Nortwick Avenue, in keeping with the wishes of nearby residents.

So Wednesday night, the city plan commission gave the staff the OK to study changing the industrial zoning on that property, as well as the 14-acre Tintinger property to the west of it. Siemens leases a parking lot on that land.

"When we heard they were going to knock the building down we decided it was time to step up and give it some (other) zoning," said Jerry Swanson, the city's development director.

In the spring of 2005, as Siemens was winding down operations at the 238,000-square-foot facility, the city asked neighbors what they would like to see on the site. It came up with a position paper that calls for mixed use, such as offices, residences, stores and entertainment. That's reflected in the city's comprehensive plan.

"What we want to avoid is somebody saying that 'For the next 10 years there is no market for residential. We'll just sell it to somebody who will build industrial,'" Swanson said.

Siemens bought the 24-building complex in 1996 from Furnas Electric in 1996. It once employed about 500 people, but in 1998 half the jobs moved to a Siemens site in West Chicago, and in 2001 another 130 jobs were cut at the Batavia site. The factory shut in January 2006.

Siemens owns 9 acres on the southwest corner and 9 acres on the northwest corner of the intersection. The northwest corner is vacant, and has become an informal neighborhood park; it abuts H.C. Storm Elementary School. Several years ago there was a proposal to build townhomes on the land. The Tintinger parking lot was most recently used by Batavia High School for temporary parking for students, while its own lots were being renovated.

Any change in zoning will require a public hearing, at which the property owners can present a case why it shouldn't be changed.