City staff and the owner of Crash Champions presented a concept plan for a proposed auto body repair facility and outdoor vehicle storage in Lockport Crossings, and city planners told the council the proposal will require changes to the development's annexation agreement and an amended special-use permit before final approval. Staff described the plan as a 20,000-square-foot building with outdoor storage on the north and west sides and customer and employee parking on the east and south sides.

The proposal was introduced by staff member Lance, who said the site involves Lots 5 and 6 of Lockport Center, zoned C-3 (Highway Commercial), and that the annexation agreement currently prohibits auto body repair, outdoor storage and towing. Andrew Hansen, director of project management and construction for Crash Champions, said the company is single-owner and privately held and that the new building would replace the business' smaller Archer Avenue location. "We are a single owner, privately owned. We do not franchise," Hansen said, and he described the firm's building program and certification process.

The nut of the council discussion was that the concept plan can proceed only if three items occur: (1) the annexation agreement for Lockport Crossings is amended to permit the use, (2) the property's special-use permit is amended to allow auto body repair and outdoor storage, and (3) any development approvals required by the final development plan are satisfied. Lance told the council a declaration of use restrictions has been drafted that would expand allowed uses from the original annexation agreement and would prohibit some uses (for example, gas stations) permanently and bind successor owners.

Council members and staff asked detailed questions about site layout, circulation and environmental controls. Questions included whether the building would be consolidated on a single parcel (Lance said the developer will consolidate lots into a single PIN and adjust lot lines), how outdoor storage and fence/screening would be managed during busy periods, and how fluids and paint operations are handled. Hansen said modern collision repair facilities use water-based paint and that waste fluids are captured and handled by licensed environmental contractors. "Everything that we have ' is housed inside of our ' in 55-gallon drums. It is taken in and out by environmental companies," Hansen said.

Some council members voiced land-use and precedent concerns. One councilmember noted discomfort that the annexation agreement's prohibited-use list would be amended for this private development while homeowners have previously been denied similar amendments, and said they expected to vote no for that reason. Other members cited the trade-off of allowing the repair use while explicitly keeping a gas-station use off the table as a benefit.

Plan and Zoning Commission previously reviewed the application and voted 7-0 on June 10, 2025, to recommend concept-plan approval subject to standard conditions; Lance told the council that the concept-plan approval would be valid for one year and that the annexation agreement and special-use amendments must be finalized before a final development plan is approved. Staff requested the council place the item on the next city-council agenda for action or consent.

The council did not take a final vote on the concept plan at this meeting; staff and the developer were asked to supply additional renderings (including a view from the east/top floor of the adjacent Dooley building) and clarification on circulation and screening for the record. The item remains pending formal city-council action.