Lily Lake residents concerned about proposed expansion of gas station on corner of Routes 47 and 64

The owner of a former gas station at the intersection of Routes 47 and 64 in Lily Lake faced concerned residents for the first time at a public hearing Jan. 31 about his proposed expansion and development of the property, which would add more diesel fueling stations and semitruck parking spots.

The hearing, which was held at Grace Lutheran Church in Lily Lake, lasted more than three hours. Residents expressed concern about the increase in truck traffic and pollution that the development could bring to their small, western Kane County community.

Businessman Joe Lazar of LB FIVE LLC acquired the property at the corner of Routes 64 and 47 along with a former mobile trailer site and an empty lot.

He submitted a development plan in November for all three lots that would include improvements to the fuel station, expansion of the diesel fueling station, the creation of 36 spots for 65-foot semitruck parking, 16 spots for 45-foot truck/outdoor equipment storage, a self-storage facility with 28 spots for 45-foot outdoor parking storage, 113 additional spots for standard parking and a potential restaurant.

“I feel like I’m a criminal here. Everyone is looking at me,” Lazar said at the meeting. “All I’m doing is cleaning up a site that’s been dumped on. I saw an opportunity there that I thought would be good for the village, for the location at 47 and 64. This is a good location for commercial and I saw an opportunity. I apologize if something was miscommunicated with the village, but there’s been miscommunication on both ends. I went to the village and I told them I bought the property and was looking to develop it. I guess we had some misunderstandings, but now we are trying to move forward and do the right thing.”

Since this was the first formal presentation of this development to the village of Lily Lake’s planning commission, it drew a lot of attention from local residents whose concerns included fears of a decrease in property value, insufficient security, pollution and noise, as well as the potential for another disaster.

In April 2022, about 8,000 gallons of gasoline leaked from the Shell gas station at the same intersection the development is being proposed.

“We like the idea of extra sales tax; frankly, I don’t really care,” said Glenn Bork, one of Lily Lake’s plan commissioners. “If we didn’t get another nickel from that corner and I had it restored to a green area, I’d be real happy with that.”

Bork argued that for the past 35 years he’s dealt with developers such as Lazar whose promises aren’t fulfilled.

“We’re not here to beat you up, but I’m one of those that I prefer if you’d ask for permission rather than forgiveness later and that’s all that we see,” Bork said. “We like the rural lifestyle we have. I’m an old farm guy. You’re not in Rockford and definitely not in Elgin anymore. Welcome to Lily Lake. We’re going to watch this pretty carefully.”

Lazar said he’s just trying to clean up the corner and bring more people to the village.

“I have locations smaller than this, and for the gas stations they are doing $60,000 a month in just sales tax, so the traffic is there. It’s a traffic center and I want to try to make it so it’s a one-stop shop: you can get your bread, get your gas, get your diesel, get your coffee and move on,” he said.

Lazar’s attorney Andrew Kolb said to the more than 100 attendees that his client isn’t creating more truck traffic as much as he’s serving something that already exists in the area.

“To some extent, Joe’s development is a reaction to existing truck traffic,” Kolb said. “You look at the roundabout near Burlington Road. All of this is already here. He’s serving the existing traffic that’s there. If there wasn’t already this truck traffic in the area, there wouldn’t be a demand that would support this kind of infrastructure and this kind of cleanup operation.

“We don’t look at it as we’re attracting this traffic. We look at it as we’re servicing this traffic and allowing the village to take advantage of that, generate some nice revenue, get some jobs in place and clean up the site, which is really in tough shape.”

Parcel shopping is huge business these days in the U.S. In 2021, the most recent year that data was available, parcel shipping volume in the country reached 21.6 billion parcels and generated $188 billion, according to Statista.

And it’s only expected to continue to grow, which means more trucks and more potential businesses such as the one Lazar is proposing.

“People love packages dropped at their homes – the convenience of Amazon,” Kolb said. “Trucks move every piece of freight to the United States. Trucks move everything in the country, so where do they go to offload and load freight and refuel? Nobody wants them in their communities. They’re harder around the airport and to get zoned and parked. It’s really a tug of war with trucks, but they shouldn’t be viewed as annoyances. They are a necessary part of America. They move everything. All the clothes we’re wearing came in on a truck somewhere.”