By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
The company seeking permission to build a massive warehouse for Diageo will wait until September to provide a revised plan to Plainfield’s plan commission.
In late August, Seefried Properties, representing Diageo, told members of the plan commission that they plan to make significant changes to the proposed warehouse for 143rd and Steiner, notably scaling back the massive project from 2.3 million square feet to 1.5 million.
“The size of the building is going to change significantly, and there’s probably only going to be one building. That changes everything. It changes the site plan, landscape plan, photometric plan, and of course it changes the traffic and the traffic proposal,” Mike Martin, representing Seefried, told members of the plan commission during a public hearing on Aug. 21.
Martin also noted that Diageo currently employs more than 600 people, and is Plainfield’s largest utility user. He said the company is looking to expand in Plainfield, because it’s a place they already call home.
“We chose [the site] because it’s in close proximity to Diageo’s production plant,” Martin said “It makes a lot of sense to have a storage and warehouse facility down the street from the production plant, and not in another town like Romeoville or Bolingbrook. It makes a lot more sense to keep it here and to solidify your relationship with Diageo and the production plant.”
Martin added that the location of the proposed site has been eyed for industrial development by the village, and sits along 143rd Street, targeted as a major truck arterial. Despite a prior traffic study that indicated a building the size of the original proposal could attract 900 trucks per day, Martin said the actual number of expected trucks is 380 or fewer daily.
But even with plans to downsize, nearby residents still balked at the plan.
“The expectation of that road is now that this will be industrial. The biggest problem with that is there are two neighborhoods and one has a grammar school right in the middle of those two neighborhoods,” said Brooke Hopkins, whose home backs up to 143rd in the Dayfield subdivision. “We are all about 2,500 feet away from those projects. So, it isn’t just noise, it isn’t just truck traffic, this is a 24/7 operation that Diageo has, from my understanding. And that’s one of my concerns among many.”
Hopkins also echoed the sentiment of other residents at the meeting, arguing that there are far more suitable sites for Diageo to build a massive warehouse.
“I personally pay one-fifth of my gross income to my tax bill. That is my biggest expense. I invest in this community on a percentage that is much higher that Diageo North America, and so do the people in this room,” Hopkins said. “We’re not prepared for this right now, as far as traffic. If you don’t expand 143rd Street before you do this, then we have a traffic problem again.”
The plan commission noted that the project is still just in the proposal stage.
“Nothing is set in stone,” Chairman Richard Kiefer said. “People think there’s some sort of deal beforehand, nothing can be further from the truth. I just want to make that very clear for the record.”
Seefried told members of the commission that they have now revised the plans, and hope to resubmit their proposal in time for the next meeting on Sept. 4.