Elmhurst Approves Warehouse Near School, Drawing Criticism

The Elmhurst City Council approved zoning plans Monday for a southwest warehouse near Salt Creek Primary School despite opposition by local residents and an alderman.

Alderpeople passed the plans after a 12-1 vote, with Alderwoman Noel Talluto absent and Alderman Rex Irby voting against the warehouse.

“The other aldermen were afraid,” Irby said about his sole dissenting vote. “Whenever you talk about zoning, the fear of legal retribution is huge. I don’t care about it, because I’m doing my job.”

The developer, Alliance Industrial Co., will demolish a Clarion Inn to build the warehouse at 933 S. Riverside Drive, about 500 feet away from the school.

“Those students basically are going to a school that has been squeezed out to the point it’s being pushed into an industrial zone,” said resident James Henry, whose granddaughter attends the school.

Rhona Dhiab, who lives three minutes away from the planned warehouse, said truck traffic is already a problem. She said the warehouse will worsen traffic at an already problematic five-legged intersection dubbed “The Bulb.”

“Trucks are already cutting through that shouldn’t,” said Dhiab, who can see the intersection from her neighbor’s house.

Developers agreed to truck-routing restrictions that will prevent trucks from turning left on Riverside Drive, toward the school.

Irby told the council before the vote that the warehouse developers failed DarkSky compliance, which dictates that outdoor lighting should be designed to minimize light pollution by restricting the amount of upward-directed light.

He said the developer also failed to follow building codes when it proposed light fixtures almost twice the height of the legally required height. Irby said changing the height will alter how light spreads across the property, meaning their outdoor lighting plan required as part of their formal Planned Unit Development submittal is inaccurate and needs to be redone.

“I’m not sure how we’re going to approve this tonight,” Irby said before the vote. “I will be voting no. I hope some of the others on council would do the same because that’s what’s demanded of us.”

Mayor Scott Levin said that while the warehouse needs to meet these conditions, they do not have to be in place prior to the vote.

Alderman Chris Jensen, chair of the Development Planning & Zoning Committee, asked the city attorney, Donald J. Storino, if the conditions are legally binding.

Storino said they were.

“That satisfies me,” Jensen said.