Machesney Park committee backs variances, limits lots to 40 to allow Rainbow Lane mobile home court to be rezoned

The Machesney Park Planning and Economic Development Committee voted on Nov. 3 to recommend approval of variances and a zoning map amendment that would allow an existing, decades-old mobile home court at 9305 North Second Street (Rainbow Lane) to become a conforming Mobile Home District — with a new condition limiting the site to 40 lots.

Staff told the committee the property has been a preexisting, nonconforming mobile home court since its annexation in 1983 and that code standards (including 20-foot spacing between units and a 6,000-square-foot-per-unit density requirement) make replacing or expanding units impossible without variances. "Our intention is not to eliminate this mobile home court," Planning Department staff said; staff recommended variances from several performance standards to allow existing structures to remain, subject to conditions including inspection of all structures, testing of the private well, installation of a new fence, and road improvements to Rainbow Lane to be completed by February 2027.

The applicant’s attorney, Blake Stubbs of Newman & Lieberman, told the committee the client prepared a revised site plan for 40 sites (the original site plan showed 42) and said the owner has set aside $85,000 for road, parking and fencing work. "We appreciate the committee's consideration tonight of the 40 site proposal," Stubbs said, adding that about 29 families currently live in the park and that some residents are elderly or disabled.

Committee members pressed the applicant on practical constraints. One trustee noted modern manufactured homes commonly measure about 15 feet wide and 66–80 feet long and questioned whether lots as small as those shown could accommodate typical units under the reduced setbacks. Stubbs said the plan was prepared by a professional architect and that he had conferred with Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Briggs and officials at the Illinois Department of Public Health, who "raised no concerns." The applicant did not provide a precise revised square-footage number for each lot in the record; the attorney described the estimate with unclear wording and did not specify an exact figure.

A neighbor, Scott Cordell of 1122 Crystal Drive, opposed the expansion during public comment, called the park "never in code" and urged demolition of the trailer park while grandfathering owner-occupants. Cordell also made charged remarks about prospective residents that the chair ruled out of order. The record shows neighbors and at least one trustee worried that increasing density from the code’s 26-unit estimate to 40 units could overcrowd the site.

During committee consideration, a motion to amend condition number 2 to allow 40 lots was made and seconded on the record; the amendment passed on a roll call of 3 ayes and 2 nays (Trustees Sipes, Bailey and Roe voted yes; Trustee Yeo (appearing in the record as “Yoh/Yeo”) and Miss Miller voted no). The committee then voted to forward ordinance 39-25 (variance) to the full board with a positive recommendation as amended (same 3–2 tally). The related zoning map amendment, ordinance 40-25, also received a positive recommendation and will go to the board.

What happens next: Both measures will be considered at the village board meeting; staff will condition approvals on the inspections and on completion of infrastructure work (including improvements to Rainbow Lane by February 2027) and on removing structures found to be unsafe or beyond repair. The committee record does not identify who seconded the amendment by name in the audio transcript; the record shows a second was entered but does not name the seconder in the turn-by-turn transcript.

The committee’s action reflects a familiar local planning trade-off: staff sought to allow an aging but occupied mobile home court to be improved and formally recognized in zoning, while trustees and neighbors flagged safety, spacing and density concerns.