GENEVA – A proposal to build a 278,000-square-foot distribution facility along the east side of Kirk Road was rejected by the Geneva Planning and Zoning Commission at the end of a public hearing lasting more than four-and-half hours.

The planners ruled that the project, known as Geneva Farms North, would have “an adverse effect or change the character of the area,” citing the noise and traffic they said would be generated by the facility.

About 75 residents living near the proposed project jammed into the Geneva City Council chambers on Sept. 23 as the commission weighed the proposal.

The warehouse plan will next be taken up by the Geneva City Council on Oct. 4.

The planning commission voted 6-0 to deny the applicant’s request for developing the trucking facility on a 54-acre unincorporated parcel at the southeast corner of Division Street and Kirk Road.

However, the commission potentially paved the way for City Council approval of the project by recommending a change in the zoning, from the current rural classification to light industrial, should the land be annexed into the city. That recommendation also was approved on a 6-0 vote.

Looming over the entire marathon meeting was an unanswered question: Is Amazon the applicant?

Residents living near the site said there is no question that the mammoth e-commerce conglomerate is indeed the entity planning to establish the facility, which is expected to generate more than 500 truck trips leaving the property every day.

The unnamed applicant is represented by Matt Kurucz, managing director of Crow Holdings Industrial in Chicago.

After the meeting, when asked directly if Amazon is the applicant, Kurucz refused to say.

Some members of the commission also indicated that from the documents and plans submitted, they believe Amazon is behind the effort to build the warehouse and distribution center.

“Why should we trust an owner that we do not know yet?” said Michelle Rathman, the first in a long line of residents at the public hearing who asserted that the project would have a detrimental effect on their neighborhoods just west of Kirk Road.

But before that, Kurucz outlined the plans for the project, including construction of an eight-foot-tall earthen berm topped with trees and shrubs along the east side of Kirk, which he said would shield the neighbors both from the sight and sound of the distribution facility.

Kurucz emphasized the jobs and tax revenue that the $70 million project would create.

There would be 460 warehouse workers earning $16 to $20 per hour, 30 managers being paid about $80,000 per year and 10 top executives earning $100,000 or more per year, Kurucz said.

The development would produce property tax revenues of between $750,000 and $950,000 each year, Kurucz said, with most of that going to the Geneva School District without generating more students.

Kurucz said the proposal is consistent with the city of Geneva’s master plan for development and that other industrial uses are located nearby.

He also noted that the Kane County Department of Transportation has plans to widen Kirk Road to seven lanes.

The warehouse plan calls for connecting the two legs of Geneva Drive at the south end of the development property.

The western section of Geneva Drive extends from Kirk Road into the residential neighborhoods. The eastern section begins at Kautz Road in an existing industrial area, but does not run as far west as Kirk.

Under the proposal, the eastern section would be extended to Kirk and a new fully signalized intersection created. Kurucz said this would be a benefit for residents and increase safety.

Kurucz said warehouse is to handle consumer goods and that there would be no hazardous materials stored at or shipped from the facility.

The residents attacked virtually every aspect of the proposal, charging that it would generate too much noise, affect air quality and reduce their property values.

Their arguments boiled down to the contention that the project is simply too large.

“There is nothing this big on Kirk Road,” resident Patrick Dickinson said.

After nearly four hours of testimony, planning commission Chairman Scott Stocking closed the public hearing and the commission members began their own discussion.

They deliberated over a series of required “findings of fact,” read by commission member John Mead.

By this time, the audience had thinned out but those who remained did not like the direction of the discussion, sensing that the commission was going to approve the proposal.

They demanded that the commission require the developers to perform additional studies and made catcalls when they heard comments from the commission with which they did not agree.

In particular, the residents targeted Stocking and Mead with their ire.

However, when talk eventually centered on the question of environmental effects and noise generated by the proposed facility, the discussion seemed to reach an inflection point.

“There are too many questions about this,” commission member Mim Evans said. “It comes down to the noise more than anything else.”

Commissioner Rebecca Holoman said there was “not enough from the applicant” on the environmental effects from the trucks using the facility.

Stocking called the proposed use for the land “very intense” and said there would be “a lot of environmental and traffic impacts.”

Commission members Michael Slifka and Adam Matyskiel agreed, as did Mead. Member Tim Moran was absent.

The proposal goes to the Geneva City Council with a negative recommendation for the planned unit development as proposed by the unnamed applicant.