Megann Horstead | For the Bugle
sweditor@buglenewspapers.com
@JolietILNews
After more than two years of vacancy and receiving two proposals to fill the lot at 1395 N. Larkin Ave., the Joliet City Council voted 5-3 to uphold a previous decision to deny a special use permit to DriveTime.
None of the neighborhood groups in opposition to the proposed special use were in attended the council’s Aug. 2 meeting. After initially denying the special use permit in June, officials were asked to reconsider their decision after the city learned a blood and plasma donation center had interest in the property.
City Manager Jim Hock said later that the board was briefed about his previous experience at a municipality in Michigan, where a blood donation center was in operation. He said issues that arose from that center “provided a constant aggravation to the police department.”
Hock stated that problems occurred daily, in part, because individuals would use the bus stop outside the donation center to get to a nearby liquor store or gamble the money they received for donations. While the DriveTime proposal was denied a special-use permit that would have allowed the used-car business to make modifications to the property, the blood and plasma center wouldn’t face the same requirements.