The Homewood Planning and Zoning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday to consider rezoning the former Calumet Country Club property to enable industrial use on the land, which has been a golf course since 1917.
If approved, the rezoning request by W&E Ventures LLC would rezone the property at 2150 175th Street from PL-2, public land and open space, to M-1, limited manufacturing use.
W&E Ventures is also requesting a special use permit, zoning text amendment and site plan approval for an industrial, warehouse, and distribution planned unit development.
The commission will also consider an amendment to the village’s comprehensive plan Future Land Use Map reclassifying the site from open land to industrial use.
The moves are required in a settlement agreement between the village and Diversified Partners, the real estate company that purchased the property last year.
When village officials in 2019 refused to support the proposed development of a warehouse fulfillment center, the company sued to disconnect the property from the village. Disconnection would have eliminated Homewood’s oversight over use of the property. When it appeared to village officials that the suit was likely to succeed, the village trustees agreed to the settlement at their Jan. 26 meeting.
The rezoning measure is the first of several requirements spelled out in the settlement.
The village will also need to establish a TIF district to provide financial incentives for the development and will need to support a Cook County Class 8 property tax relief designation.
The Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing will take place in the board room of the village Hall, 2020 Chestnut Road. The meeting will also be viewable remotely via video conferencing application Zoom
To comply with pandemic safety requirements, a capacity limit of 25 people will be in effect in the board room. Once that is reached, visitors will be directed to the hallway outside the board room and then to the Homewood Science Center across from the village hall at 18022 Dixie Highway, where the capacity limit is 40 people.
Everyone entering these buildings must wear a mask covering their nose and mouth at all times.
The Zoom access and dial-in numbers are:
- Dial-in only: (312) 626-6679
Dial-in Meeting I.D: 991 8481 1606
Dial-in Meeting Password: 573 812 - Zoom: go to zoom.us, click “Join a Meeting”
Zoom Meeting I.D: 991 8481 1606
Zoom Meeting Password: 573 812
Questions or comments may be submitted before the meeting by email to [email protected] or in the drop box outside the village hall.
Questions received before 3 p.m. Thursday will be read into the record at the meeting. Type “Calumet Zoning Question” in the subject field of the email.
In case of multiple questions or comments pertaining to the same subject matter, the chairperson of the Planning and Zoning Commission reserves the right to respond to or read a single question or comment on each subject. However, all questions or comments shall be distributed to all commission members and shall be included in the record.
Anyone who wants to provide public comment in person will be given a number upon entering village hall or the science center. Numbers will be called in sequential order. If the number of people seeking to make comments in person exceeds the room capacity because of social distancing requirements, the attendee has the option to join via Zoom or wait outside village hall until their number is called.
To give everyone the opportunity to comment or ask a question, the commission ask that once a speaker has spoken, they exit the village hall and listen to the remainder of the meeting on Zoom.
Those attending via Zoom will be muted until called upon. Visitors should use the “raise your hand” feature to indicate that their desire to ask a question or comment.
When joining the Zoom meeting, enter your first name and your last name or the initial of your last name. Only individuals listed with proper names will be called upon. Village officials caution visitors not to enter random characters or inappropriate words as part of their names.
In the interest of time, protocols will be used to give as many people as possible the opportunity to speak. Those asking questions in person or via Zoom will have three minutes to speak.