Big crowd turns out to oppose warehouse development proposed for Randall Road in Carpentersville

Hundreds of people attended a meeting this week at which plans for a large warehouse development on Randall Road in Carpentersville were unveiled, making their opposition to the proposed project known.

“We must fight this. It’s really insane,” said one woman, speaking prior to the joint Carpentersville Village Board/Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday, held in the village’s Public Works Department building to accommodate the crowd.

Carpentersville Village President John Skillman stressed to the group that no action would be taken at the meeting. “This is intended for information only,” he said.

U.S. Capital Development wants to annex 88 acres at Randall and Binnie roads into the village to build the Carpentersville Logistics Park. The St. Louis-based company’s contract to purchase the property from the Galvin family is contingent on Carpentersville approving the project.

Michael Stephenson, a U.S. Capital representative, said a warehouse would be built on the site for future sale to an as-yet unknown buyer. Although it would have 324 loading docks, Stephenson stressed it would not be a truck depot.

A local group has seized on the truck traffic generated by the development as its main objection, promoting the message “No Diesels in Dundee” via a DieselKills.com website.

Not only will the number of trucks affect vehicular traffic in the area, they will create noise, environmental pollution, road damage and potentially dangerous conditions other drivers, the site said.

They’re also fighting to save the “last green frontier in Dundee Township, our last vestiges of open space and critical stormwater retention,” the site said. “Is a giant diesel distribution warehouse center the best use for this land?”

Stephenson said their interest in using land that’s close to a residential area is to take advantage of the nearby workforce they expect to employ.

Peak truck traffic hours would be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Stephenson said. The company’s engineering consultants are doing a traffic study and all other studies required by village ordinances, he said.

U.S. Capital also is following Kane County regulations for stormwater mitigation, said John Wilson, an engineer working on the concept design.

Grand Pointe Meadows HOA President Becky Carnes said 750 residents in her West Dundee subdivision believe the development is an “incompatible land use.” The property is adjacent to a wetlands that’s home to a variety of wildlife, she said.

The villages of Huntley and West Dundee both rejected similar proposals from U.S. Capital, Carnes said. If Carpentersville allows the project, “it will change the character of the (Randall Road) corridor,” she said.

Dundee Township Trustee Sue Harney voiced a similar position, saying she agreed with the development opponents.

“The people speaking here tonight are telling you what this project will cost them,” she said. “The benefit you perceive for Carpentersville comes at an enormous cost, both personally and financially, for all of us.

“You can demand better land use. You have the power to walk away. You can tell the developer you’re having a bad hair day and that’s why you’re not going to do it. You have that power, or you can settle for a logistics hub that will hurt the people who believe in you to look out for their best interests.”

Carpentersville officials did not offer any opinions on the proposal or indicate what the next step in the review process would be.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.