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Board recommends caretaker residence at Ayers Landing campground despite debate over existing mobile home
Summary
The zoning board voted 5–1 to recommend approval of a special use allowing a caretaker residence at Ayers Landing Campground (Bickett Outdoors LLC). The applicant said the proposed house would occupy the footprint of an earlier dwelling and that the property includes multiple seasonal campers and a mobile home occupied by his father.
The LaSalle County Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5–1 on March 19 to recommend the County Board approve a special use permitting a caretaker residence at Ayers Landing Campground, owned by Bickett Outdoors LLC, at 3494 East 2080 Ninth Road in Dayton Township.
Daniel Bickett, who identified himself as the owner of Ayers Landing, told the board he tore down the property's original house two years earlier and now seeks to build a home “where that old house was” so his family can live on the property. “There won't be any commercial element to that home. It's really just my house,” Bickett said.
Bickett described the campground as roughly 27 acres split by a creek — about five acres on one side and 22 on the other — with seasonal RV campers, a pavilion, and a barn used for business storage. He said most sites are seasonal (April–November) and that only his father currently lives year-round in a 1970s mobile home on the site; Bickett said the mobile home is allowed to remain under a living-trust right to stay until the father dies.
Board members pressed about floodplain status, utilities and septic, and whether a condition should require removal of the father's mobile home when it ceases to be occupied. Bickett said he has engaged an engineer (IMEG) and expects to remove the house site from the floodplain prior to construction. He said the existing water lines are still in place but that a new septic will be required.
Legal counsel and staff advised the board that the mobile home as described is not a permanent structure and that it would be difficult to condition approval on its removal when the property is currently in compliance. The board split on whether to add a removal condition; the motion to recommend approval passed 5–1. Brian Gift confirmed the petition will go to the County Board on April 10.
Votes at a glance: Recommendation to County Board to approve special use for petition 25-07 (caretaker residence) — vote 5 yes, 1 no. Outcome: recommendation approved and scheduled for County Board review April 10.
