New Lenox Approves Gas Station On Route 30, Walona Avenue

NEW LENOX, IL — At its Monday meeting, the New Lenox Village Board approved the annexation and rezoning of a property on Route 30 and Walona Avenue, which will be developed into a Lenny's Gas N Wash gas station.

The developer had asked if the vote could be tabled at the board's last meeting on Jan. 25, after several trustees expressed their opposition to the project.

The developer made several changes in the weeks since the meeting, and also brought its traffic consultant and architect to speak to the board. In the new proposed plan, the diesel pumps were eliminated, a few vacuum machines were added to the car wash building, and a 30-foot landscape buffer with a berm on the south property line was provided. The elimination of the diesel pumps would also decrease the amount of video gaming terminals the property could have.

The developer's attorney also said they would pursue a variance for an 8-foot fence.

Nearby residents still expressed concerns over traffic and noise.

"I was hoping there would be some quantitative numbers from a traffic study, maybe estimating the amount of traffic," nearby resident Katie Chambers said, adding that she still saw traffic on the weekends on Route 30, and it would not be just traffic on the weekdays.

"I still think the traffic will be troublesome," she said.

Trustee Annette Bowden, who had said she was "vehemently opposed" to the project at the last meeting, said the dynamic of the project was changed with the elimination of the diesel pumps and decrease of video gaming machines.

"I'm more comfortable with it now," Bowden said.

"Removing those diesel pumps is huge to me," Trustee Doug Finnegan, who also expressed opposition at the previous meeting, said. "My biggest concern was the truck traffic coming in there."

"I am much more in favor of this now, the way it's presented," he said.

Mayor Tim Baldermann said the developer had addressed the concerns from neighbors and board members.

"Regardless of the outcome, the process here worked. Everybody was heard multiple times, the concerns were addressed, whether to your satisfaction or not, they were at least not dismissed," Baldermann said, before the board voted.

"I think we're a good neighborhood business," Len McEnery, the owner of Gas N Wash, said at the meeting. "My experience has been the neighbors have been happy with us after we get through the process."

All the Village Trustees and Mayor Tim Baldermann voted in favor of the rezoning for the project, except for Trustee Dave Smith. Smith did not make a comment at this meeting, but at the previous meeting, he had expressed his opposition to the project.

According to board documents, the property is located at the southeast corner of Route 30 and Walona Avenue. The concept plans call for a gas station, convenience store, car wash, drive-up food window and sale of packaged alcoholic beverages, board documents state.