LaSalle County Board approves multiple special-use petitions including lot splits, mini-storage and office trailer replacement

LaSalle County Board members on Sept. 1 approved a string of special-use petitions recommended unanimously by the LaSalle County Zoning Board of Appeals, allowing two lot splits under 35 acres, a three-building mini-storage proposal with a size limitation, and replacement of an office trailer at a rail-maintenance site. The items matter to property owners and nearby residents because each special use changes permitted activities on agricultural or rural-residential land and, in the mini-storage case, includes an explicit limitation on future expansion without returning to the zoning board. Mister Gift, presenting the petitions, summarized the first lot-split request as follows: “The petitioner is requesting to split the subject lot into 2 parts. 1 part on the north, has an existing home, and then they wanna create a, buildable lot, on the south, parcel.” That petition (25-17 for Gregory and Beth Ninkovich) was approved after a motion by Mister Stockley and a second by Mister Aubrey; the zoning board had recommended the special use under Section 7.1-4(b) of the LaSalle County Zoning Ordinance. On the mini-storage item (25-18 for Nicholas Dolder and Triple Z LLC), Gift reported the zoning board’s unanimous recommendation and the condition limiting development to the three buildings shown on the site plan. “There were 4 shown on the site plan for, basically, the area and the north of the parcel was gonna be an additional building. So the condition was put to to limit that to the 3 that are within the current parcel,” Gift said. The board approved the special use with that condition. For the Ameritrac Rail/Framelius Investment Properties petition (25-19), Gift said the applicant leases the property for rail and track maintenance and sought to replace an existing small office trailer with a larger one; the board approved the special use under Section 4.2-4(s) to allow the nonconforming use to continue with the replacement trailer in the rural-residential district. Gift also described petition 25-20 (Daniel and Jessica Aloisio) as a lot split enabling a family member to build on a north parcel while the original owners continue a farming operation; that petition carried with the zoning board’s unanimous recommendation. Separately, the board approved one-year extensions to two earlier campground special-use ordinances for Pleasant Creek Campground LLC (ordinances 23-132 and 23-154), extending the approvals to 09/11/2026 and 10/12/2026 respectively; the county’s ordinance 14.1-10 (time limit for special use) was cited during the presentation. All approvals listed the applicable parcel identification (PIN) numbers as read into the record during the meeting; conditions imposed by the zoning board were recorded in the administrative files and will be enforced through the county’s permitting process. The board’s approvals were routine motions, each moved and seconded on the floor; where recorded, the clerk announced the motions carried and the specific votes were entered in the roll call.