By Jason Crane –
The Village Board of Montgomery held a marathon meeting, Monday to start the new year with a standing- room-only crowd for an action-packed agenda. The nearly five hour meeting, which included a 15-minute break, was the longest in recent memory of many observers.
Montgomery resident and Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club founder and president, Herschel Luckinbill, received recognition for his work for military veterans. He was one of 200 Illinois Veterans who received the Honor 200 Award at the December 3 bicentennial in Chicago.
He was presented with the State bicentennial flag.
“It was an honor to be selected as a Honor 200 Hero,” Luckinbill said. “We got to go down to Navy Pier and be with the incoming governor and outgoing governor. Out of the State’s 750,000 veterans, they selected 200 to get the award.”
Luckinbill was instrumental in bringing the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall to Aurora in 2013 and to Oswego in 2017. This year, he plans to bring a Wall of Honor to the Aurora area May 22-June 4 to honor Afghanistan and Iraq veterans.
• Rita Pennington, State coordinator of Quilts of Valor presented quilts to three veterans, Phillip Smith, police chief; Sean Davidson, Village employee; and Charles Cornelius, civilian.
Quilts of Valor covers service members and veterans touched by war with comfort and healing.
Members of Quilts of Valor make the quilts at the Montgomery VFW the third Tuesday each month.
• Montgomery Festival of Tree Awards were presented to Orchard Road Animal Hospital, first place; Fox Metro, second place; and St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, third place. The awards were for decorated Christmas trees on display at the Montgomery Village Hall.
• Police officer Kevin Bayer was sworn in by Village president Matt Brolley. Montgomery Police Chief Phil Smith said Bayer’s passion for law enforcement came from his grandfather who was a sergeant with the Chicago Police Department. Before working for Montgomery, Bayer was a dispatcher for the Calumet City Police Department.
• Aurora resident Deborah Ellis started the public comments by expressing concerns about the proposed Ricky Rockets fuel center on the Aurora/Montgomery line at the southwest corner of Orchard and Jericho Roads.
She spoke on behalf of a group of Linden’s subdivision homeowners with concerns about the safety, quality of life, and resale value of homes in their subdivision.
She said the approval process was rushed and not in accordance with established protocol. Ellis said only 10 of the 320 homeowners in Linden’s were notified. Letters were sent to only the homeowners next to Jericho Road.
She stated there is no mention of a hotel, multiple liquor licenses, and video gaming on the property, just future development.
Ellis stated the proposed Ricky Rockets doesn’t provide any amenities that aren’t already abundant on Orchard Road. Illinois Ricky Road fuel centers are in Hoffman Estates and Midlothian.
Carl Franco, alderman for the Fifth Ward of Aurora expressed concern about the notification.
“Based on details coming out, and not in this letter, we may want to revisit having this meeting again because now we have more specifics.”
The Board unanimously approved the special use permit for the proposed fuel center.
Vacuum pyrolysis process
Tim Newberry CEO of Bio Carbon Solutions Global, an environmental development company formed four years ago, explained the proposed $40 Million development uses the process of vacuum pyrolysis to convert tire chips into carbon black and an oil.
Air quality concerns were expressed by Bruce Goldsmith, attorney for Aurora University. He said the notice was just received of the plan and the concern is about the school’s recently-built Spartan Athletic Park which is adjacent on Jericho Road.
“We’re not really a gas manufacturer,” Newberry said. “We manufacture two products. One does happen to be a liquid fuel, but we’re not refining it on site, it’s just a by-product of what we do.”
Newberry said Montgomery is ideal because the tire chips would be supplied by Liberty Tire Recycling in the Village. He said there was misinformation and concerns that their plan is to incinerate tires.
He said this will be a clean site and the process is 100% closed loop. The parts of the process are under air lock or vacuum and the proposed $40 Million site could create 50 to 60 jobs.
• Village president Brolley said, “We have tried to do research on this process and we haven’t been able to find a whole lot. Frankly, other than the news articles that talked about the Texas plant, I haven’t been able to find anything on this to determine whether or not this is a good use for our Village.”
Newberry said there are 13 other locations across the United States.
After much discussion about how to proceed, president Brolley said, “Let’s not take action on this vote because it seems we are pretty well undecided at this point about whether or not to move forward.”
UAW Local 145 union hall sale
The owners of Victorian Apartments requested a text amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow for greater density within the R-6 Multiple Family Residence District. The zoning ordinance allows for a maximum of 12 dwelling units per gross acre. The owners of Victorian Apartments are requesting that number to be changed to 22.6 units per acre for multi-family zone R-6.
Representatives from Victorian Apartments stated they have a contract to purchase approximately five acres of land owned by the United Auto Workers Local 145 at the end of this month.
• Director of Community Development for the Village, Rich Young, said the Village is working with CMAP to bring up to date the Village’s zoning ordinance. The recommendation is until the zoning ordinance is completed to make no changes to the zoning requirements.
The Plan Commission recommended a planned unit development amendment that permits a developer to meet overall community density and land use goals without being bound by existing zoning requirements.
• The Board approved a special use permit for GRNE Solar and Fox Metro for the installation of a solar energy system at 800 S. River Road.
The system would generate electricity that would decrease the amount of power that Fox Metro Water Reclamation District purchases.
The special use permit is required to apply to receive a grant for funds to install solar panels on approximately 43 acres owned by Fox Metro Reclamation District which could save taxpayers an estimated $160,000.
•Consent was given to the appointment of Ryan Morton by the Village president to the Police Pension Board to fill a vacancy for a term January 14, 2019 through April 30, 2020.
• Consent was given to reducing Class G liquor licenses available in the Village because South Moon BBQ no longer is open to the public, and accordingly, no longer has use for it.
Click here to see the Montgomery Village Board agenda for January 14, 2019.
Jason Crane/The Voice