Published: July 18, 2006 09:53 am      

Hawthorne Hills residents sound off against beauty shop

By MARY KAYE DAVIS

mary.kaye@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Believing their property values would go down, several residents of the Hawthorne Hills Subdivision spoke at Monday night’s City Council meeting in opposition of a local couple’s request to have land rezoned along Illinois 15 to build a beauty shop.

Terry and Jane Hall plan to purchase the 1-acre piece of ground at 16275 North Illinois 15 from Danny Hamilton if it’s rezoned from residential to business and then make a $150,000 to $200,000 investment in building a new business there. The piece of ground is one lot over from the entrance to the high-end subdivision.

The request unanimously passed the city’s Zoning and Planning Commission last week, although several Hawthorne Hills residents were there to object.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting Terry Hall cited the fact there are already numerous businesses along Illinois 37 North, including Electronic Architechs, Service Master and Cort’s Mobile Homes.

“This zoning would not bring blight to the area, it would be a very nice new building,” Hall said.

Hamilton, who’s also a resident of Hawthorne Hills, said the new building would “not downgrade” the subdivision, and it’s just another example of how Mt. Vernon’s business climate is growing.

Hawthorne Hills resident James Wilson spoke against the proposal and also provided city council members with a signed statement from the Hawthorne Hills’ residents association.

“For me personally I have the fear of decreasing property values,” Wilson said. “Once this piece of property would be rezoned at a later time I believe more businesses would want to locate nearby and have that property rezoned.”

Although it was pointed out the potential new business would have a separate entrance and not impact traffic into the subdivision, Wilson said he still believed the aesthetics of the subdivision would be downgraded and there was the potential for increased noise.

And the fact that other businesses were located nearby also did not deter Wilson’s outlook.

“I’m not concerned about what’s a half mile down the road,” he said. “I’m concerned about what will happen in our neighborhood.”

Another resident who spoke at the meeting who moved into the subdivision in August, agreed with Wilson, stating that people choose to live in the subdivision because it is quiet. In addition to the potential for increased noise, he also stated he did not want to see more commuter traffic and believed the air quality would be impacted.

“These are high-value properties; that’s not to say that we’re better than everybody else,” the man said. “But these are revenue bearing property for the city. I don’t see why (city officials) would want to jeopardize this for one business.”

A third subdivision resident was concerned about sewer issues, stating she was afraid the subdivision’s lake could be polluted, among other pollution-related concerns.

City Manager Roy Payne explained that if the property was rezoned, before the Halls could build they would have to have to be issued a building permit and before the permit would be issued the sewage plan would have to be OK’d by the Jefferson County Health Department.

Hall commented that “he’s been in the construction business all of his life” and all plumbing would have to be installed by a license plumber.

“The system we would put in would not have the potential to be anymore problematic than the (subdivision) residents’ systems,” Hall said.

Because the request met with opposition, it was held for first reading. Both sides can return to the Aug. 7 City Council meeting to speak on the issue again.