Politics & Government

Small Change, Big Impact for Industrial Properties

The Montgomery Village Board unanimously approved a business-friendly change to the village's laws Monday night. They also saved more than $400,000 by taking out new bonds for the Village Hall, and spent more than $75,000 on water and sewer repair project

It may seem like a small, perhaps insignificant change. But for a village striving to be more business-friendly, it may turn out to be a pretty big deal. 

On Monday, trustees unanimously approved a change to the village’s laws, rectifying an issue that has, by many accounts, kept some industrial companies from seriously considering relocating to the village. Changing that law took about a year of work, according to Charlene Coulombe-Fiore, executive director of the .

Previously, virtually every business in Montgomery with a loading dock was required to obtain a special use permit. That’s because the law required a special use for motor freight terminals, meaning any building in which freight is stored for transport out of state, and for distribution uses, meaning any business that ships or receives goods more than five times a day over any given five-day period.

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And that pretty much covers every industrial operation in the village, Coulombe-Fiore said. But the extent of the law’s effect wasn’t known until Brian Dolan, chair of the MEDC’s Business Climate Enhancement Committee (and a 30-year veteran of industrial real estate), visited each industrial building with a loading dock over the past 12 months.

Dolan said he was surprised to learn just how much industrial property Montgomery has. And, he said, the sheer amount of it makes the special use permit law nearly impossible to enforce.

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Hence, the change: all truck distribution uses are now permitted in industrial-zoned areas of the village, unless the property in question must be accessed through residential streets. In that case, a special use permit would still be required. 

Dolan called it a huge step forward for the village, noting that none of Montgomery’s neighbors require that special use permit. And Coulombe-Fiore said she has spoken with owners of industrial businesses interested in moving to Montgomery, and the idea of having to obtain a special use permit to send and receive shipments has dissuaded them.

Trustees were impressed with the effort that went into crafting the change, with Trustee Bill Keck giving special thanks to Dolan for visiting each building.

“There are a lot of people watching this,” said Trustee Matt Brolley. “This is a big step forward for us.”

In other action, the Village Board approved taking out roughly $4.4 million in alternate revenue bonds, to pay off the remaining balance of the bonds taken out in 2005 to construct the new Village Hall. In essence, the village is refinancing, taking advantage of lower interest rates.

And according to Kevin McCanna of Speer Financial, who handled the transaction, things worked out very well for the village. The new bonds were expected to save about $250,000 over their lifespan, but with four bidders, the savings were about double that, McCanna said—about $490,000 over the life of the bonds, and about $396,000 in today’s dollars.

The board also approved a $45,612 contract with Visu-Sewer of Illinois to replace part of a sanitary sewer that collapsed along Montgomery Road near Bill’s Restaurant. The bid, one of two, was about 30 percent below the engineer’s estimate of the cost, which was $65,020.

Trustees also approved a $27,965 contract with Layne Christensen Company to repair a broken motor and/or pump on one of the village’s wells. Layne Christensen is the only local company with the expertise to perform these repairs, according to Director Mike Pubentz, and earlier this month, the board approved a service contract with the company, which covers this deal.

The well, Number 14, “experienced a thermal overload failure” on Nov. 19, Pubentz said, and was taken out of service.


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