Will County Gazette

The Monee Village Board of Trustees heard a presentation from a representative of Robinson Engineering during its recent board meeting detailing text amendment issues and stockpiling zoning.

During a board meeting streamed on YouTube, Robinson Engineering senior planner Mora Ragone shared with the board zoning code issues related to a stockpiling ordinance and other issues, and detailed how text amendments regarding stockpiling should be framed. She also addressed these issues with the village’s Planning and Zoning Board during an earlier meeting.

“We update codes through text amendments to ensure that we are keeping our codes up with what is happening,” she told the board.

The text amendment would have to go to the Planning and Zoning Board, and a public hearing would be required. It would then go to the village council for approval.

Stockpiling generally comes with outdoor use, and is the focus of a proposed update.

“To have specific regulations for stockpiling, we had to cast the net a little further,” she said. “We grabbed a bunch from all over, from regulating landfills to little storage.”

Ragone also discussed with the board how text amendments regarding stockpiling should be framed, not so much written about what is stockpiled but rather how.

The proposed text amendments presented addressed the height of a stockpile based on the visibility of the pile, location of the stockpile within a property, minimum property size to have a stockpile, fencing, landscape berm perimeter, and some additional regulations.

“You kind of try to gauge where we fit,” she said. “We look at topography of land. Sometimes, there is a low area or it is close to the road. We also look at the property lines.”

During the session, the board debated several aspects of the proposed amendment and sent it back to the Planning and Zoning Board for its approval.

Ragone said the firm looked at how much of a tract can be covered by a stockpile, and ensured it is not located in a floodplain while also addressing any stormwater issues.

“It a plan to show us where it is and all of the other requirements that we have outlined in there,” she said.