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ZBA recommends Sam Beets & Sons’ 74-foot grain bin, new dump pit and setback variance in Mendota Township
Summary
The Zoning Board recommended approval of a special-use permit for a commercial grain storage facility (a 74-foot-diameter bin, ~350,000-bushel capacity) and a variance to reduce one road setback from 70 to 50 feet for a new dump-pit building at 4798 East Fifth Road; the petitions will go to the County Board March 10.
The LaSalle County Zoning Board of Appeals on Feb. 19 recommended that the County Board approve a set of permits for Sam Beets and Sons to expand on an existing grain-receiving site at 4798 East Fifth Road in Mendota Township.
Petitioner Barry (Barry) Beets said the owner, Sam Beets and Sons, leases the site to Meriden Grain and plans to construct a single new grain bin and receiving pit with conveyors. “We’re gonna construct one bin. It’s 74‑foot diameter. Storage capacity is 350,000 bushels,” Beets told the board. The proposed receiving pit and a covered building will occupy the footprint of an old brick office that the petitioner said would be abated for asbestos and removed before construction.
The board considered two related petitions: a special use to allow commercial grain storage at the site (petition 25‑05) and a zoning-variation request (petition 205‑01) to reduce the road setback for the new dump-pit building from 70 feet to 50 feet from the road center line. The petitioner said the reduced setback would allow conveyors beneath the pit and alignment with the new bin; he described the requested 50‑foot setback as specific to the new building and said future bins would remain at or beyond the 70‑foot setback.
Traffic patterns will remain substantially the same, the petitioner said: trucks will use the existing entrance, pull into the new dump pit, then exit to the scale area. The board confirmed the adjacent road, East Fifth Road, is paved and that the Mendota Township road commissioner attended and indicated the township maintains the road right-of-way. Beets said the facility employs about three people during harvest plus eight truck drivers who call on the site; there are no permanent water or restroom facilities at the location today.
County staff told the board the special-use application complied with the LaSalle County Zoning Ordinance standards; the board completed the required finding-of-fact reviews under Section 14.1‑5 (special uses) and Section 14.8‑3 (variations). After discussion, the board voted to recommend both the special use and the setback variance to the County Board. Both petitions are scheduled to be presented to the County Board on March 10.
No written correspondence or public speakers were recorded on these petitions at the ZBA hearing.
