City of Mount Carmel Zoning Board of Appeals met Oct. 12.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
The Mt. Carmel Zoning Board of Appeals met in Regular Session in the Meeting Chambers at City Hall Building, 631 Market Street.
Present on Roll Call: Chairman Tony Bowles, Tim Raibley, Jeff Parker, Vikram Singh, Andrea Downing, Shawn Storckman, Patricia Bramlet
Also Present: Public Works Director Michael Gidcumb, Mayor Joe Judge, Roger Nuxoll.
Absent: Katie Slane
Zoning Board Chairman Tony Bowles brought the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll call was taken.
Tony Bowles then turned the floor over to Mayor Joe Judge. The Mayor thanked Tony for his many years as chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals. The Mayor then gave the oath of office to the incoming Chairman Tim Raibley.
Chairman Tim Raibley began by thanking Tony for his years of dedication to the zoning board. Tim then asked if everyone had a chance to read the minutes from the meeting held on 09/14/2021. Tim then asked if there was a motion to accept those minutes.
A motion was made by Jeff Parker, and seconded by Tony Bowles to approve the minutes of the last meeting, dated September 14, 2021. All present voted Aye.
Oath was administered by Chairman Tim Raibley to petitioner Roger Nuxoll (Professional Land surveyor) representing, Dollar General.
Chairman Raibley then moved to the application No. 090220211V on the agenda. Chairman Raibley asked
Public Works Director Gidcumb to explain the petition to the board.
Public Works Director Gidcumb explained Application 090220211V a Variance petition requesting a reduction
in the required number of parking spaces 54 to requested number of spaces 35.
o Appendix A of zoning Art. XIII, Sec. 13-1- T Off-street parking facilities required Retail store to have a parking space per 200 square feet of floor area.
Chairman Raibley then asked the petitioner’s representative Roger Nuxoll to explain why Dollar General is requesting the reduction of spaces in the application.
Mr. Nuxoll explained Dollar General has completed multiple studies for the occupancy of the Dollar General Stores. He said in these many studies they have found the maximum number of spaces needed at any Dollar General Stores in Illinois was between 25 to 30 spaces. He went on to explain Dollar General is different than a Walmart or even a grocery store due to the fact the patrons that come to Dollar General do not stay longer than minutes to an hour. He said most people go into Dollar General look around and pickup what they need and leave. Mr. Nuxoll went on to explain that Dollar General has been trying to place more green space around the stores to blend in with the surrounding areas, since a lot of the newer Dollar General Stores are placed closer to residential districts. He stated in this area there were expected to be walk up traffic also instead of people driving up to the store.
Mayor Judge expounded upon this by saying both Dollar General Stores were going to stay in place and with the surrounding neighborhood and the accessibility of the side walks to this Dollar General Store he felt the patrons would also walk to the new store.
Chairman Raibley asked if any of the board members had questions for the petitioner.
Board member Bramlet asked if the petitioner would show the green space, he was speaking of from the drawings the board were given. Mr. Nuxoll apologized for not bringing the larger drawings of the area and stated if the board recommends the application to the City Council he would provide a larger drawing and layout of the proposed area. He went on to show board member Bramlet the areas they planned on having as green space.
was for a rear yard setback. Chairman Bowles asked Mr. Gidcumb to explain what has been brought before the board.
Chairman Raibley then asked if there were any other questions or comments. Board member Parker made a statement that if anyone wants to build anything around the area, we should give them the go ahead to do so.
Chairman Raibley then stated if anyone knows how much parking they need it would be Dollar General. He continued stating they would not build less parking than they need stating that would not be good for business. He went on to comment us small town people aren’t going to walk a mile away from the parking to the store.
Board member Bowles stated in the area of the proposed construction there would be a lot of the customers that would walk to the store. He went on to say anything we can do to bring business to Mt Carmel and get the property back on the tax roll we should. He stated that has not been on the tax roll since that was a former car lot.
Chairman Raibley reminded the petitioner that he will need to attend the council meeting that the zoning board is just an advisory board to the City Council and the City Council makes the final decisions.
Mayor Judge agreed with Chairman Raibley they should have a representative available at the board meeting next Monday. Mr. Nuxall said he would be there and assured the board he would bring larger scale drawings of the proposed site.
Chairman Raibley stated if there were no more questions or comments he would like to entertain a motion.
Board Member Patricia Bramlet made the motion to recommend the reduction in parking spaces to the requested number of 35.
Board Member Storckman seconded the motion. All present voted Aye.
Chairman Raibley let the petitioner know the City Council meeting would be held Monday October 18, 2021 in this very room at 5:00. He thanked Mr. Nuxall for his presence at the meeting.
Chairman Raibley asked if there was any old business or any new business to discuss before asking for a motion to adjourn the meeting.
With no other business to discuss a motion was made by Board member Shawn Storckman to adjourn at 5:20 PM and seconded by board member Patricia Bramlet to adjourn. With all members voting aye.
https://www.cityofmtcarmel.com/sites/default/files/fileattachments/city_council/meeting/11499/zoning_board_meeting_minutes_10-12-2021.pdf
Alerts Sign-up