The McHenry County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to approve a 10-year renewal of a conditional use permit for indoor and outdoor storage of landscaping equipment and vehicles at 3902 East Crystal Lake Avenue and granted a variance to allow a narrowed portion of the driveway.

The board heard application Z250018 Thursday and approved the staff-recommended conditions and the variance by a 7–0 vote. The petitioners — property owner Fidel Espinosa, represented by attorney Dan Curran — sought renewal of an existing conditional use permit and a waiver from the county’s 24-foot driveway-width standard for a segment of the access drive.

The decision preserves long-standing operations at the 6.4-acre property, which Curran and Espinosa said has been used for landscaping for more than two decades and includes a metal barn adapted for commercial use, a separate commercial septic system, and a privacy fence and vegetative buffer to screen adjacent homes. Espinosa told the board his crews typically arrive about 6–7 a.m., the business stores about six trucks and several employee vehicles, and there is no retail activity at the site.

In staff testimony, senior planner Anna Kurtzman reviewed the application history and findings. She said the original conditional use was established in 2002 (case 200146) and was renewed by the county board after a 2012 application; staff noted that earlier complaints and a small number of recorded violations fall outside the applicant’s current period of operation or were resolved, and that recent complaints since 2019 had not required further enforcement action. Kurtzman recommended leaving the variance set at 10 feet to be conservative based on the site plan.

Board members’ questions focused on operational details: vehicle types and counts, the location of employee parking (a gravel area north of the barn shown on the site plan), the new septic serving the commercial barn, and whether storage of landscape materials occurs on the property. Espinosa acknowledged occasional landscape-material deliveries used for property upkeep and confirmed that the commercial barn and associated restroom and septic meet county standards.

Several board members noted the driveway’s narrow segment predates the current ordinance. In deliberations, member Eldridge said the scale of traffic — owner and employee trucks rather than semi deliveries — and long-term, largely complaint-free use weighed in favor of approval. During the discussion Eldridge commented that the narrower width would be sufficient “as long as you, are sober and not crazy.”

The board first voted to accept staff’s proposed conditions (a reiteration of existing terms) and then voted to approve the conditional use renewal and driveway variance, sending the approved petition to the McHenry County Board for final action.

The petition record lists the application as Z250018 and references conditional use permit records including a 2012 case (2012-019 referenced in the application packet) and the earlier 2002 establishment (case 200146). The property was identified by PIN 14353510CO9 in the hearing materials. The applicant’s business name appeared in the record as “FSP Northlandscaping.” The board set an operational condition limiting vehicle movements before 6:30 a.m., among other standard screening and storage boundaries in the staff conditions.

The county board will consider the ZBA recommendation as part of its agenda; the ZBA record shows the request approved by a 7–0 vote and will be forwarded with the staff report and the conditions imposed by the Zoning Board of Appeals.