Kankakee planning board recommends rezoning portions of North Cottage block to R-2

Kankakee — The Kankakee City Planning Board on Jan. 14 recommended that City Council approve a map amendment to rezone parcels on a block of North Cottage from industrial to R-2 (two-family residential).

City planning staff told the board the block had been miszoned as industrial despite predominantly single-family development and two existing duplexes. The board voted in favor of the recommendation in a roll-call vote and will forward the map amendment to the City Council for final action at its early February meeting.

Planning staff said the rezoning request covers three lots at the north end of the block, including properties with existing duplexes at 175 and 197 North Cottage and a city-owned vacant lot at 173 North Cottage that is slated to be transferred to the owner of 175 as part of the city's vacant lot program. The staff presentation said the rezoning aligns with a previously identified target area in Teska's rezoning plan and that lot consolidation would be required under the vacant lot program.

Staff also told the board that several rear lots on the block are not part of the rezoning because the city's environmental/sewer unit (ESU) flagged elevation and sewer-service issues, including the presence of small on-site lift stations and repeated maintenance problems. "He did not think that if the other house ever came down that it should really be rebuilt again," staff said, summarizing ESU's recommendation that those rear lots be evaluated case by case and excluded from the current amendment.

During public comment, resident Catherine James of 158 North Cottage said she received notice of the proposed map amendment only recently and was surprised to learn the street had been zoned industrial. "I was shocked to find out ... the whole both sides of the street was all industrial," James said, adding that she has lived on the street for about 40 years and was concerned about how the industrial zoning affected property sale and insurance. Planning staff offered to follow up and to provide a copy of the ordinance after council action.

After questions from board members about lot consolidation and whether separate lots would be permitted, a member moved to recommend approval of PB2025-1-1 and attach the map-amendment standards included in the meeting packet. The motion was seconded, and the board approved the recommendation by roll call. The board recorded six yes votes and one absence; no no votes or abstentions were recorded. The planning board's recommendation will appear before City Council as an ordinance if the council places it on its agenda.

The planning board transacted the procedural business of the meeting quickly: members appointed Chip Warren as pro tempore chair at the start of the session and approved the minutes before taking up the rezoning case. The board's recommendation does not change zoning until City Council adopts an ordinance and it is signed and recorded.