Crest Hill planning commission recommends council approve Lockport Township public‑safety training grounds with conditions

The Crest Hill Plan Commission on March 13 recommended that the City Council approve multiple zoning text amendments and Planned Unit Development exceptions for the Lockport Township Fire Protection District’s proposed public‑safety training grounds, including an outdoor firing range, and attached a condition requiring the range’s sound‑attenuation wall be adjusted per a Soundscape Engineering study. The commission’s final recommendation on special use permits and PUD exceptions passed 6–1 and the other procedural recommendations were unanimous; the case now moves to the City Council for final action.

The matter matters because the 13‑acre complex would consolidate fire and police training, vehicle maintenance and specialty rescue staging on former Stateville property inside the fire district, and would include a 100‑yard outdoor firing range used only by public‑safety agencies. Opponents at the hearing urged an indoor range or relocation because they fear noise and future development impacts; proponents — including fire and police leadership — said a local range would improve realistic joint training, reduce response times and cut costs of sending crews off‑district for live‑fire training.

Lockport Township Fire Protection District Chief John O’Connor told the commission the training grounds are intended ‘‘to ensure the fire district is properly staffed, trained, and equipped to handle emergencies across [a] 46‑square‑mile jurisdiction serving 85,000 residents.’’ He said the plan includes classroom space, a multi‑story burn/training tower, vehicle maintenance bays and consolidated storage for reserve apparatus to reduce response times for specialized equipment.

Deputy Chief Ron Huff of the Lockport Police Department described the firing range as strictly for public‑safety use by the five agencies inside the fire district and said use would be free of charge to those agencies. ‘‘This course will not be open to the public,’’ Huff said. He described operational limits proposed by the applicant: typical daytime hours, a Saturday/Sunday window of about 8 a.m.–4 p.m., and up to 10 p.m. for night shoots on a limited schedule (applicants estimated a small number of night shoots, perhaps a few per year). Huff said typical on‑range headcount would be seven officers at a time, with a 15‑lane maximum.

Soundscape Engineering principal consultant Nathan Sevener presented the noise assessment. He said the proposed combination of berms and a 20‑foot sound wall would reduce measured sound levels at the nearest residences by roughly 8–12 decibels at several sample receiver locations. ‘‘A 10‑decibel reduction is cutting the sound level in half,’’ Sevener told commissioners, and the study modeled both handgun and rifle firing to assess directivity and peak sound levels.

Applicant and design team representatives outlined technical details that commissioners and commenters raised: the site is approximately 13 acres; the outdoor range is planned as a 100‑yard course 110 feet wide by 375 feet long with 15 firing positions; proposed berms along three sides would be about 24 feet high and a 20‑foot‑high perforated fiberglass sound wall would be placed behind the firing line; the training tower would be roughly 40–45 feet tall; accessory structures and canopies would exceed typical height limits and are requested as PUD exceptions; other requested exceptions include the use of shipping containers for training props, allowance for certain wall sign dimensions, reduced masonry on one façade, elimination of a large loading zone, widening one driveway up to 150 feet and allowing four parking islands to be paved rather than landscaped. The staff report and a March 13 addendum with the noise materials are posted on the city website, staff said.

Several residents spoke in public comment. Some opposed the outdoor range, raising concerns about audible gunfire in nearby neighborhoods and potential effects on future commercial or residential development near the site. One resident said he can hear gunfire from an existing range a mile away and asked whether an indoor or underground range had been considered. Supporters, including retired and current first responders, said the combined facility would improve joint training for realistic emergencies (including active‑shooter and rescue‑task‑force scenarios) and help keep crews and apparatus in service rather than traveling to out‑of‑district ranges.

On financing and operations, Chief O’Connor said the district plans to issue a bond for roughly $15 million plus some capital funds and that the district’s finance plan is structured so the project would not require an additional tax levy. The range would be owned by the Lockport Township Fire Protection District, he said, while the Lockport Police Department would design, help operate and provide range‑master oversight under intergovernmental agreements.

The Plan Commission took three separate votes on recommendations to the City Council: (1) a motion recommending waiver of certain preliminary and final PUD submission requirements — approved unanimously; (2) a motion recommending approval of the requested zoning ordinance text amendments that would define an outdoor governmental training firing range and list it as a special use in the M‑1 district, add parking standards for the use and exempt it from specified noise performance standards — approved unanimously; and (3) a conditional recommendation to approve the special use permits and PUD exceptions, with an additional condition that the location of the proposed sound‑attenuation wall be adjusted consistent with the March 11, 2025 Soundscape Engineering noise assessment — approved 6–1 (Commissioner Cheryl Slobozeski cast the lone no vote). All three recommendations will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration at an upcoming work session and subsequent formal meeting.

The commission’s actions are recommendations only; any final land‑use approvals, ordinance amendments or PUD decisions require City Council action. Planning staff noted the full application materials and the staff report (including the March 13 addendum and the Soundscape assessment) are available on the Crest Hill website under Agendas & Minutes and that staff can help residents locate the files.

The commission closed the hearing at 8:45 p.m.; commissioners who voted in favor said they were persuaded by the training and public‑safety benefits and by the applicant’s sound‑mitigation measures, while the no vote and several public comments stressed uncertainty about long‑term noise and future development impacts.