April 19, 2024
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Joliet council to vote on truck tire shop

BF Tire wants to service semitrailer cabs and other trucks at Broadway Street location

By Bob Okon

The owners of this tire shop at Broadway and Hutchins streets in Joliet are seeking a special use permit to handle tires for box trucks and semitrailer cabs. (Bob Okon)

A plan for a truck tire shop on Broadway Street goes to the Joliet City Council for a vote on Tuesday.

BF Tire wants to repair and install tires at its shop at Broadway and Hutchins Street.

The proposal was rejected in January by the Zoning Board of Appeals in a 5-0 vote that served as a recommendation to the City Council, which has the final vote.

BF Tire would install and repair tires for semitrailer cabs and other trucks, a business that the owner says he is already doing in Joliet with a mobile service. He wants to also service trucks at the shop.

Zoning board members pointed to the residential area behind BF Tire and said the business did not fit the neighborhood.

Joe Mazzone, attorney for BF Tire, pointed to industry along Broadway and said a tire repair shop was suitable for the neighborhood. Mazzone also said residential neighbors of the business were surveyed and no one objected to the plan.

The location is the former Martinson Tire Service shop and originally had been developed as a gas station in the early 1900s, according to a staff report.

BF Tire needs a zoning variation and special use permit to do work on trucks at the location.

The staff report noted safety concerns because of semitrailer cabs maneuvering in and out of the site and potential problems if Hutchins was used for street parking for the business.

Staff has recommended 17 conditions for approval of the project, including a landscaped buffer in the rear of the property and a 10-day limit on how long trucks and trailers could be stored outside.