Kankakee planning board recommends conditional-use permit for Harbor House shelter
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Summary
On Feb. 11, 2025, the City of Kankakee Planning Board voted to recommend a conditional-use permit allowing Harbor House to continue and expand residential and nonresidential domestic-violence services at 2391 East Court St., a step the agency says is needed to pursue a $2 million DCEO CDBG grant.
On Feb. 11, 2025, the City of Kankakee Planning Board recommended approval of a conditional-use permit for Harbor House’s domestic-violence care facility at 2391 East Court Street, clearing a zoning hurdle the agency says is required for a pending grant application.
Harbor House Executive Director Ginny Sheinwater told the board she sought the conditional-use permit to update zoning language at the site to reflect both residential shelter space and expanded nonresidential office and program areas. "We are requesting a conditional use permit at our current location, so that's 2391 East Court, for our domestic violence care facility that includes nonresidential and residential services," Sheinwater said.
The board, after a public hearing and staff presentation, attached multiple conditions to the recommendation. Commissioner Deb Terrell moved to recommend approval with findings A through F from the conditional-use standards and with specific preconditions requiring site-plan review and issuance of building permits by the building, fire, planning and engineering departments; satisfaction of health-department requirements; fire-department approval of access for emergency vehicles; increased understory planting and native shrubs in buffer strips (in lieu of boxwood); additional plant material at entrance islands consistent with perimeter landscape-strip requirements without blocking visibility; and screening for dumpsters. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Steve Case and recorded as a recommendation for approval.
City staff explained the zoning update was requested as part of materials submitted to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds tied to construction. Melissa (city staff) told the board the grant application and required environmental review are on a condensed schedule: the CDBG award is tied to a spending timeframe that runs from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026, and several items, including updated zoning language and environmental clearance, must be completed before the award can be finalized. "There has been quite a delay in communication, is maybe the nicest way I can say that, with the state in regards to getting some clarity," Melissa said, noting that the environmental process and related items were due in March.
Sheinwater said Harbor House has served the community for more than 45 years at the East Court Street location and that the zoning update reflects longstanding use as a shelter and new program space tied to the expansion. She also said the city is the applicant on the DCEO grant and that the federal funds, if awarded, would support construction of an expanded emergency shelter.
During the hearing, a neighboring property owner raised traffic concerns tied to a private drive to the east; staff said the submitted site plan showed no access between the shelter site and that private drive and the commenter had no further questions after staff explained the ingress/egress configuration. A resident, Stephanie Brown, spoke in support of Harbor House, praising its youth programs and community services.
Board members asked staff about phasing and parking. Melissa said Harbor House’s future-build plans were being accounted for in parking calculations but that any future buildings would require a separate amendment and formal review. "We don't have plans for those buildings... and we would need to review that when it comes forward at that time," Melissa said.
The planning board’s recommendation does not itself approve construction. The board voted to recommend the conditional-use permit; the recommendation will be forwarded for the city’s further administrative and permitting reviews and for any final approvals required by the city and by the grant process.
Clarifying details: Grant amount noted by staff: $2,000,000 (DCEO/CDBG); spending timeframe Jan. 1, 2025–Dec. 31, 2026; environmental and related items described by staff as due in March 2025 (staff-described deadline). The address for the facility is 2391 East Court Street, Kankakee, Illinois.
