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In a series of ballots Monday evening, June 12, the Montgomery Village Board approved the annexation and rezoning of a large, undeveloped parcel of land along the west side of Orchard Road north of Route 30.
In a separate vote, the board also approved the creation of a tax increment financing district for the 250-acre parcel, which is owned by NGH Farms of Oswego and Five H LLC.
Under terms of the annexation agreement and subsequent rezoning, 67.1 acres of the property have been zoned B-2 for retail business use, while portions of the remaining acreage have been zoned M-1 and M-2, for light and general manufacturing uses.
The portion of the property zoned for B-2 retail business use front Orchard Road on either side of an extension of Aucutt Road, at the northeast corner of Route 30 and Griffin Drive, and at the southeast corner of Aucutt Road extended and Griffin Drive extended.
An approximate 5-acre site for a Redi Mix plant is designated at the north end of the property, immediately south of Jericho Lake Park, along with a site for a mining operation. The portion of the property designated for mining operations takes in just more than 62 acres.
John Philipchuck, an attorney representing NGH Farms and Five H LLC, said that some nearby homeowners have expressed concerns about the Redi Mix plant and mining operation. Philipchuck said his clients have successfully operated a much larger mining operation, Fox Ridge Stone off Route 71 in Oswego, for the past 40 years as residential subdivisions have been developed on adjacent properties.
Philipchuck also said the proposed mining operation on the Orchard Road site would be a much smaller operation than Fox Ridge Stone and likely range between 30 and 40 acres.
“What we are doing is here to trying to ensure the future beyond 20 years looks brighter for all of our taxing bodies and all the village and the village’s residents.”
— Matt Brolley, Montgomery village president
Philipchuck said his clients would use backhoes to mine the sand and gravel on the site and are “cognizant of what it takes to keep the dust down” from mining operations.
He also said his clients won’t begin mining operations on the site until the Orchard-Aucutt Road intersection is improved with an extension of Aucutt Road onto the property. In addition, there is a possibility his clients plan to mine limestone on the site if it is found to be of good commercial grade.
He said his clients have mined limestone at a quarry near residential subdivisions in the village of Bolingbrook without incident.
Any blasting done on the Orchard Road site typically would be limited to one or two times per month and regulated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Philipchuck said.
“I know people are concerned that we’re going to shake their house down, but that is not the case. It [blasting] is very well-regulated.”
Before the board’s votes, Village President Matt Brolley told residents who attended Monday’s meeting that the land already is zoned in unincorporated Kane County for mining. As a result, Brolley said all the landowners need do to start mining on the site is to obtain a permit from the county.
“I would much rather have them do it [mining] as part of the village, where we can have just a little bit more involvement in that process and in the approvals and regulation than to leave it to the county’s code enforcement officers to handle that, not to say anything bad about the county. We [the village] are here, on the ground here, and can address issues as they come up.”
Brolley said he and other village officials believe very little if any of the property, a large portion of which is located in the Blackberry Creek floodplain, would be developed beyond the mining operation without the establishment of the TIF district.
Brolley said Sugar Grove Fire Protection District officials have voiced objections to the creation of the TIF district. But in approving the TIF, which will be in place for 23 years, he said village officials are attempting to “look beyond the immediate and into the far off future of what the village could be.
“What we are doing is here to trying to ensure the future beyond 20 years looks brighter for all of our taxing bodies and all the village and the village’s residents.”