A Kewanee man won’t be able to store trailers and vehicles on a former gas station property on East Second Street, thanks to a City Council vote on Monday.
Larry Neels recently purchased the former Star Station lot at the northwest corner of Second and Walnut streets and had applied for a special use permit to allow parking trailers and vehicles on the property. The city Plan Commission voted unanimously to approve the request.
On Monday, Councilman Mike Komnick and Mayor Gary Moore voted “yes” on granting the permit, but Councilmen Adam Cernovich and Tyrone Baker voted “no.”
City Manager Gary Bradley said that since the motion didn’t receive a majority vote, it didn’t pass — meaning the permit wasn’t approved.
Cernovich said he didn’t particularly object to trucks and trailers being parked on the lot.
“I do have a problem with the scrap” on the ground and on trailers, he said.
Installing screening around the lot would eliminate any eyesores from the scrap, but police had reported that screening could interfere with visibility for drivers of emergency vehicles from the police and fire departments across the street.
Neels said the scrap usually stays on the trailers “a week or two.” People come by and drop off scrap items to put on the trailers, and when a trailer fills up, Neels takes it to the scrapyard, he said.
Mayor Gary Moore voted in favor of the permit even with the screening requirements, but acknowledged that “It is kinda tough to give permission to violate our own rules.”
The failure to approve the permit means Neels will have to remove the items from the lot, Edwards said.
The council also approved a 10-year renewal of an agreement between the city and the Illinois Department of Transportation on the city’s work to maintain state highways in town.
The agreement provides about $75,000 a year, which Cernovich said might not cover the city’s costs to do the maintenance work.
But Bradley pointed out that the city has no say in how much the state pays, and the city can “take it or leave it.”
