Plan for automobile sales business revs up support from DeKalb panel

DeKALB – Plans for a proposed automobile sales business along East Lincoln Highway received a boost of support this week from a DeKalb city panel, although City Council approval still is needed.

The applicant, Cirilio Mendez, approached the DeKalb Planning and Zoning Commission for permission to do business on 1.15 acres currently occupied by a home with two detached garages at 2050 E. Lincoln Highway.

City Planner Dan Olson said the applicant intends to create an automobile sales office out of the house. Olson said the city needs more detailed drawings to visualize the applicant’s plans for the site.

“Before any work starts, they have to submit more detailed building plans,” Olson said. “But what they’re showing generally does meet the requirements.”

City staff said they received a proposed layout for the site in 2024.

The property in question originally was “forced annexed” to DeKalb in August 2011 and zoned for single-family use, city documents show. The lot was rezoned in March 2012 to allow for light commercial use.

Mendez has owned the property since 2021 and lives there now, according to the city. Once the business is set up, he plans to no longer reside there, documents show.

The office also would include a sales area, two restrooms, a store, a waiting room and an accessible ramp into the building, city documents show. Plans also show a drainage basin and landscaping along East Lincoln Highway and the east and west property lines.

Mendez estimated that exterior improvements would cost about $122,600. Interior renovation of the home into a sales office and for the Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramp would cost about $70,000, city documents show.

City staff said they find the proposed automobile business would be compatible with surrounding businesses, which include a gas station, vehicle storage area, self-storage facility, furniture store, towing business and an equipment and tool rental place.

Olson said uses of the property surrounding the site would not be affected by the business if it is approved.

James Worrell said he’s concerned that the city is overlooking a spot between Mendez’s driveway and the area he intends to use for work.

“I don’t believe there’s room for a retention pond in that space,” Worrell said. “We thought it would be better to move it to the east side of the property or to the south because everything there drains to the south anyway. All the field tiles and everything go south of there. My uncle Charles ... built that house. It was originally part of my grandfather’s farm. So, consequently, we’re very familiar with it. We wanted to make sure that you had that same understanding and that it just needed to be addressed is all.”

Mendez’s niece, Adilene Flores, said her uncle’s intention is to be a good neighbor.

“We do not intend to make anyone uncomfortable,” Flores said. “This is the best we’re trying to do.”

Flores said her family has contacted engineers to try to get drainage moved toward the back of the property.

“That way it doesn’t cause any trouble to our neighbors as well,” she said.

City staff said they support the plans for the proposed automobile sales business, but they suggested multiple stipulations for Mendez.

Those include that Mendez create and pave a vehicle display area; provide required parking spaces; not repair vehicles on-site; not store inoperable vehicles on-site; not have outdoor storage of boats, trailers or RVs on the site; provide customers and employees with a waiting area; not expand a vehicle display unless a special-use permit is amended; and renew the special-use permit, which will expire within one year of the ordinance approving the special use.