McHenry Times

The McHenry City Council recently approved a local contractor's request for a permit for outdoor storage.

During a Dec. 5 McHenry City Council meeting, a petitioner from the contractor’s office located at 4102 West Crystal Lake Road asked the council for a permit to have outdoor storage at their facility. The request had already gone through the Planning and Zoning Commission, who presented it to the City Council with a unanimous vote in favor of granting the permit.

The council discussed a few details of the permit, including if they should add a condition about truck parking a certain distance from the road. The petitioner, who is adding the property as an additional space for his guard rail and sign business, was there to speak to the board.

There was one individual who had concerns about the site in regard to having large trucks parked in the right-of-way and blocking line of sight on the roads. The petitioner assured the council that he would not be parking or allowing trucks to park in those areas. He is also fencing in the entire rear yard for secure truck parking.

"I just spoke to the petitioner tonight,"  Ross Polerecky, McHenry Public Works director, said in the meeting. "Yes, we require a tree survey to be done. All the mature and decent trees will remain, the fence will be moved into the property to make sure that that tree line is preserved. Additionally, the property to the north has a very dilapidated chain link rusted out fence right now. The petitioner is working with that property owner and has approval to remove that fence and replace it with his new fence. So they're cleaning up the property in both ways."

The council decided to award the permit with the condition that no parking be allowed within 15 feet of the property line on the road.