WHEATON, Ill. — The Wheaton City Council voted Jan. 6 to direct the city attorney to prepare an ordinance to amend the special use permit for the Islamic Center of Wheaton at 900 E. Geneva Road to allow a 15-space net increase in parking, a right‑in/right‑out connection to Geneva Road and a driveway interconnect with the adjacent property.

Neighbors raised stormwater and screening concerns during the meeting, saying the project will require raising a berm around the center's detention pond and removing a mature row of arborvitae that currently screens headlights and provides privacy. Jane Beatty, president of the Wheaton Pine Grove Homeowners Association, said the association submitted engineering and landscape concerns to city staff and asked the council and consultants to review them before a final vote. "We respectfully request that you and V3 consultants take the time to review and consider our issues and propose changes before any vote is taken," Beatty said.

Why it matters: The amendment seeks to expand parking and formalize a new drive connection while also requiring the detention basin be brought into compliance with its originally permitted design. The engineering changes include raising the southern berm of the detention pond to the elevation shown on the original 1990s permit and adding a small additional detention volume for the new parking. That work affects landscaping between the pond and adjacent rear yards, which neighbors say currently provides a mature visual screen.

City staff and the applicant's engineers said the changes are intended to address a construction defect in the original detention facility. City Engineer Joe (last name not stated) told the council the Islamic Center's detention pond was not built to its originally permitted elevation; the current proposal rebuilds the berm that should have been constructed in 1993 and adds detention for the new parking. "Their plan to add the detention generally is the original plan that was originally permitted from back in 1993-ish," he said, adding the additional detention is a "tiny little smidgen" for the new spaces. He also said the pond would overflow as originally designed toward the Pine Grove subdivision if it ever exceeded capacity, consistent with the subdivision's original drainage plan.

Resident Robert Fiorello said the pond currently has four storm grates and expressed concern that a new driveway would cross one of them and that the plans do not show replacement. He said that after heavy rains in early 2019 water remained in the pond for days and that the existing arborvitae have blocked headlights and provided privacy for years. "I don't feel that there's a need to remove those arborvitae," Fiorello said, adding the plants are about eight years old and provide "plenty of security, plenty of safety."

Lisa Cassidy, civil engineer with B3 Companies representing the Islamic Center, said the landscape plan shows the existing arborvitae (she estimated about 30) would be removed where the berm must be built and replaced with a mix of evergreen materials, some planted at an initial height of about 6 feet. "We do feel like this plan  will actually enhance the screening, better than what's out there today," Cassidy said, while acknowledging new plantings may take a year or two to mature. She also said the project team can revisit plant sizes or placement in response to council or staff guidance.

Council action and next steps: Council members voted to direct the city attorney to prepare an ordinance reflecting the council's discussion and staff recommendations. The council asked staff to include language addressing the landscaping and screening concerns and to preserve or replace screening to the extent possible while bringing the detention facility into compliance. City staff noted that the preliminary engineering plans are subject to further review during final permitting and that any necessary changes discovered in that review would have to be made before issuance of a site development permit.

The council's directive means the ordinance will be drafted and returned to a future council meeting for formal consideration and a final vote. City staff said final engineering review and the state site development permit process remain outstanding steps before construction could begin.

Clarifying details recorded during the meeting include: the amendment would add a net 15 parking spaces; the berm around the southern end of the detention pond would be raised about 2 feet; residents cited roughly 200 feet of arborvitae (one resident estimated roughly 36 plants) that would be affected; the applicant's landscape plan proposes a mix of arborvitae and larger evergreen trees planted at about 6 feet at installation; and the detention work seeks to restore elevations originally permitted in 1993.

The council recorded its direction as a motion to prepare an ordinance; staff said the draft ordinance will try to capture the landscaping enhancement discussions and the requirement that preliminary engineering is subject to further staff review prior to issuance of a state site development permit.

The matter came from a Planning and Zoning Board recommendation to approve the special use permit amendment; the council's action on Jan. 6 was to receive that report and direct the city attorney to prepare ordinance language incorporating the council's comments.

The council did not vote to issue building permits or to allow construction at the Jan. 6 meeting; those steps await final permitting and any additional approvals required by staff review.