The Palatine Village Council has given the go-ahead for a new Pep Boys in town, while denying a similar proposal for a different automotive repair shop on Northwest Highway.
The council voted Monday night on two separate, but similar proposals for auto repair shops in the village.
While national chain Pep Boys received approval to open at 315 W. Northwest Highway, all seven council members shot down a proposal for another repair shop from Nu-Forms at 640 E. Northwest Highway.
Pep Boys is replacing a former auto repair company and sailed through with little discussion, with the only questions from council members related to signs.
The Nu-Forms proposal, however, was met with resistance.
The Zoning Board of Appeals previously approved the project with a 6-1 vote, but Village Manager Reid Ottesen said Palatine staff disagreed because the existing building, which is vacant, is very close to a residential building and an auto repair shop would not be appropriate.
“The separation between structures is actually less than 10 feet, so you don’t get any of what we would normally require for a zoning buffer from a business to a residential use,” he said, adding there were no such issues with the Pep Boys location.
The area used to be one parcel, but was split in half, which is what led the home and commercial building to be so close to each other, Ottesen said.
The previous tenant was a car stereo installation business, which closed in 2006. Shortly after the business left, an expansion of the building was proposed to bring in a law office, but it fell through and has been vacant since.
While Ottesen recognized the problems the parcel already has due to the lack of space, he said other businesses would likely be more appropriate.
“There are a lot less intense uses from a noise standpoint,” he said.
Councilman Brad Helms, who represents the district where the auto repair shop was proposed, cited the fatal 2007 auto repair shop explosion at 502 E. Northwest Highway. The 40-year-old owner of the business, Expert Auto Repair, was killed in the fire that followed the explosion. Helms said he was concerned placing another auto repair shop so close to a home.
“They are going to be doing similar things here, repairing vehicles, maybe gas tanks, so on and so forth,” he said. “That seems to be to be way too close. If we were to have another incident like that, it could get out of hand.”
