The City Council Monday denied a request for a zoning variance that would have allowed building an “accessory structure” on a vacant lot on Kewanee’s north side.
The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals had voted unanimously to deny the request from Shannon Smith. The council’s vote to deny the petition was also unanimous.
Smith had sought the variance for a vacant lot at 1046 Terry Ave. that she was considering buying.
She told Keith Edwards, the city’s community development director, that she planned a 78- by 150-foot building on the lot, which is zoned R-2 single-family residential. The city’s zoning ordinance says “accessory structures” may be built on lots where there is already a house or other building.
In a memo to the zoning board, Edwards wrote that “There are indeed some parcels within the city where a garage or storage shed exists without a house.” He said that when a house burns down or is demolished, an accessory structure on the lot can be allowed to remain in a non-conforming status.
Edwards said city records indicated that there has never been a structure on the Terry Avenue lot.
Several neighbors told the zoning board that they opposed the variance.
Cassidy Bishop, an 11th Street resident who lives near the Terry Avenue property, wrote the zoning board that she was concerned about “traffic from trucks, trailers and other vehicles, which could “affect the safety and quality of life of nearby residents.”
Lauren Pesina, who lives at that same address, said 11th Street is a walking route to Northeast Park, and suggested that building the accessory structure might increase traffic on the street.
Jay DeValkenaere lives on North East Street, adjacent to the Terry Avenue lot. He told the zoning board that if there is no plan to build a house on the lot, he is opposed to the variance.
Edwards told the board that he and City Manager Kasey Mitchell had asked Smith for a “clearer description of the planned use for the proposed building,” but she never provided that information.
