By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
Residents concerned about a proposal for a warehouse at 143rd and Steiner Road packed into the Village Hall last week, armed with questions, concerns, and a few suggestions of their own for elected officials and staff.
The village held an open house to discuss plans for a planned 2-million square foot warehouse facility for Diageo.
The project is the largest industrial development proposed in Plainfield’s history.
Residents were invited to the open house to review site plans, ask questions, and submit comments and concerns over the proposal.
On large maps of the area, residents wrote comments on what they’d like to see implemented to mitigate the effect of additional trucks for the warehouse, offering suggestions ranging from suggested rerouted roads and money to sound proof windows, to a simple comment, “put it in your backyard, not ours.”
The proposed site would accommodate 500 trailers and 375 passenger cars, and would consist of two, pre-cast concrete wall buildings connected, as well as storm water management and landscaping.
Improvements along 143rd Street Improvements, including a west extension to Ridge road, is under discussion as part of the plan.
The applicant said the project will shift the truck traffic from the Diageo facility currently on 143rd Street and Van Dyke Road about one and one-half miles west.
The project has been nicknamed “Project Jupiter,” and is currently in the feasibility stage in advance of the final purchase of the property.
If approved, the facility would take 15 months to construct.
While the plans remain in the preliminary stages, residents still opted to approach the full board with their thoughts on the proposal.
“The residents of Dayfield and Liberty Grove both have houses within 100 feet of that road,” Garek Milkeris, a resident of the Dayfield Subdivision along 143rd Street, told members of the village board on Aug. 20. “Projections are upwards of 900 trucks per day going in and out of that facility, per the preliminary traffic study analysis. So, that increased traffic which is a common theme of other issues brought up [to the board], the trains that are going through there, with this addition semi-truck traffic is going to cause a real problem. Not to mention the noise, diesel exhaust emissions, additional traffic. You have kids who have to cross from other subdivision to reach school. It’s just socially irresponsible to put that much truck traffic right through the middle of two residential subdivisions.”
A traffic study submitted to the Planning Committee on Aug. 7 showed a building the size of the proposed warehouse could generate 910 heavy vehicles per day, including 50 during the morning peak hour and 20 during the evening peak hour.
An updated study submitted this week changed those numbers drastically, basing truck traffic projections instead on total daily truck traffic and hourly operational data provided by the facility’s supply chain management, rather than overall warehouse size. According to those numbers, the total number of transport and shuttle trucks at the site would reach about 190 per day, with 40 per hour during both the morning and the evening peak travel time.