Will County approves Second Story Ranch special-use permit for recovery-centered residential program on 68-acre Crete property

The Will County Land Use Committee on Sept. 4 approved a special-use permit to allow the Second Story Foundation to operate a recovery-centered residential program on a 68-acre property at 2400 Bemis Road in Crete Township. The committee voted 4–1 to approve the request after a lengthy public discussion and a unanimous 6–0 recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission with seven staff conditions. The permit allows the property, formerly the Double Dakota Ranch, to continue equine boarding and training while adding a 12,000-square-foot lodge and residential space for up to 15 program participants who would live on-site as part of an extended recovery program. Planning staff described the request as seeking permission for a use “similar or compatible to a rural retreat,” a permitted use in the A-1 agricultural district, rather than seeking rezoning to a residential district. The program’s representatives told the committee the facility would not operate…