Almost two dozen neighbors of what is expected to be a large
Frito-Lay distribution center along Interstate 55 near the Chatham exit left a
Springfield City Council meeting frustrated July 16.
The council voted 6-3 in favor of
zoning variances allowing the project to move forward.
Voting in favor were Alds. Chuck
Redpath of Ward 1, Lakeisha Purchase of Ward 5, Brad Carlson of Ward 7, Erin
Conley of Ward 8, Jim Donelan of Ward 9 and Ralph Hanauer of Ward 10.
Voting against were Alds. Roy
Williams of Ward 3, Larry Rockford of Ward 4, and Jennifer Notariano of Ward 6.
Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory was absent from the vote.
Representatives of Lakeview Acres
LLC, the company that would develop the land and lease the proposed
226,800-square-foot facility to the end user, said the soonest construction
could begin would be spring 2025.
Lakeview officials and Frito-Lay representatives have declined to say whether Frito-Lay would be the end user, but Illinois Times has confirmed the snack food company’s involvement in a site that would cost between $30 million and $51 million to build, based on industry estimates.
Taylor Bass, a manager from
Becknell Industrial, which is assisting the developer of the site – currently a
farm field – said Lakeview will work with the Illinois Department of
Transportation to determine whether and where additional traffic signals and
turning lanes need to be installed along Palm Road and at Lakewood Drive to help
regulate traffic flow.
Lakeview would pay for any road
improvements or signals, Bass said.
Neighbors who turned out, clapping
loudly and yelling to express their opposition to the project, said the project
would bring unwanted noise, dust, traffic congestion and potential danger to
school buses transporting Ball-Chatham School District students.
“It’s going to be an eyesore,” Melissa Smith told council members. “This is the entrance to Springfield. This is very alarming.”
![City council moves Frito-Lay project forward, despite objections from neighbors](https://media1.springfieldbusinessjournal.com/springfieldbusinessjournal/imager/u/blog/15355180/melissasmith7-16-24frito-lay.jpg?cb=1721233653)
Council members who supported the project, which would be in Ward 1, indicated they supported it because the approximately 30-acre site already is in an industrial zone and the project would potentially create hundreds of good-paying jobs for people who don’t need college degrees to be hired.
Rockford said he is in favor of
bringing new jobs to Springfield but sympathized with the neighbors’ concerns
and wished there would have been “more discussion” before a final vote.
Williams said he would have
preferred that the distribution center be located closer to his ward on the
east and north sides of the city to make jobs at the center more accessible to
his constituents.
Ryan McCrady, president and chief
executive officer of the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, said information
about potential sites throughout Springfield were shared with the developer.
But he said final decisions on purchasing land and proceeding with zoning
approval are up to developers and can be influenced by whether landowners are
willing to sell.
The building at the distribution
site would be 45 feet high. A fence surrounding the site would be 8 feet tall,
with 2 feet of barbed wire on top.
Variances were needed because of
several factors, including the size of the fence – higher than normally allowed
– and to allow the building height to exceed the maximum 35 feet currently
allowed.
Sources told Illinois Times that 150 to 200 permanent full-time workers would be employed at the site. Bass told the council that 150 to 200 temporary construction jobs would be created.
![City council moves Frito-Lay project forward, despite objections from neighbors](https://media2.springfieldbusinessjournal.com/springfieldbusinessjournal/imager/u/blog/15355182/building_site.jpg?cb=1721233654)
But Brad Metzger, another neighbor,
said the site would “distract from the aesthetic appeal of our neighborhoods.”
Neighbor Fred O’Connor said the
project would cause home values to plummet.
“They could go to another area,”
O’Connor said. “You don’t build on an exchange. You want to build near an
exchange.”
He asked council members: “Would
you want this in your neighborhood? I don’t think you would.”
Bass said the site is an ideal
location for a large distribution center. He estimated that up to 50 or 60
tractor-trailer trucks would be transporting goods to and from the site each
day once fully operational.
Smith said the site is not within
Sangamon Mass Transit District boundaries, so city buses wouldn’t transport
people to and from the site. But
Hanauer said, however, that
Sangamon/Menard Area Rural Transit, which operates vans to transport people to
rural parts of Sangamon County, would be available to serve workers at the site
who schedule rides ahead of time.
The Springfield Planning and
Zoning Commission voted 9-1 on June 20 to recommend City Council approval of
zoning for the project.