Kankakee dropping number of drop boxes

KANKAKEE – Kankakee is putting the drop on donation drop boxes.

By a unanimous vote at Monday’s Kankakee City Council meeting, an ordinance restricting the number of donation drop boxes allowed per ward was approved.

The city had allowed up to 30 drop boxes throughout the seven wards, but the number has been reduced to 14, meaning no more than two per ward.

The matter had been in discussion within the council’s Ordinance Committee. The changes were approved in committee.

Mayor Chris Curtis said he’s not against clothing being recycled for others, but the boxes have turned into dumping grounds for discarded items.

He said the boxes typically are placed near the street and often are overflowing with items or items are being piled up outside of the drop box.

He said the organization sponsoring the boxes are not collecting the material on a timely basis. The boxes simply look like a dumping ground, he said, and that is not an image he believes residents are pleased with.

He said the annual fee for organizations to place a drop box also will increase from $100 per box to $250 per box.

Curtis said he would have greater sympathy for organizations collecting these materials if they were local entities, but they are not.

The alter ordinance also notes the box cannot be placed in front of a business, but rather, at the side of a business.

Alderman Lance Marczak, Ordinance Committee chairman, said if organizations properly attended to the drop boxes, this matter would not have been raised.

“This has been ongoing for years,” Marczak said. “We’ve all seen this. We’re not doing anything to hurt a business, but if it’s unsightly, then we’ll address it.”

The revisions take effect within 30 days of the council’s action, meaning the new restrictions will take place April 3.

“It’s unsightly, and there are too many of them,” Marczak said after the council meeting. “They are not being maintained or taken care of. They don’t add anything to our community.”

Although there are not 30 boxes scattered throughout the city, Curtis said part of the current problem is the boxes can be clustered in a certain area.

“We are trying to improve the appearance of the city,” he said.

Two drop boxes must be at least 1,500 feet apart from the nearest box. Before the revision, there was no issue with them being clustered.

The organization responsible for a drop box must have it emptied and maintained within 48 hours of a code official notifying them of a situation.