TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Dustin Anderson, Director of Community Development
SUBJECT:
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Ordinances Associated with 23656 S. Houbolt Road:
Ordinance Approving a Special Use Permit to Allow Container Storage and Stacking Up to Three-High (ZBA 2026-26)
Ordinance Approving a Variation of Use to Allow Container Storage and Stacking Up to Three-High in the I-1 (Light Industrial) District (ZBA 2026-27)
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BACKGROUND:
The petitioner and property owner, Whimsy Joliet LLC, is requesting approval of a Special Use Permit to allow a truck parking facility for their local freight carrier company, Whimsy Trucking, at 23656 S. Houbolt Road. The 7-acre parcel is currently within unincorporated Will County with County A-1 (agricultural) zoning. The petitioner is requesting annexation and classification to the I-1 (light industrial) zoning district. Trucking facilities are allowed as special uses within the industrial zoning districts. The petitioner is also requesting mobile compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling as an accessory component of the facility, which requires approved of a Variation of Use to allow above-ground fuel tanks in the I-1 district. Additionally, the petitioner is requesting container storage and stacking up to three containers high at the proposed facility, which requires approval of a separate Special Use Permit and Variation of Use.
Whimsy Trucking provides transportation services related to intermodal freight hauling, transferring, and storage. They have headquarters in Mount Prospect, Illinois, several yards in the Chicagoland area, and an existing truck terminal south of the subject site at 3901 Houbolt Road. The proposed development at 23656 S. Houbolt Road would include a 3,000-square-foot office building, employee parking, and a trailer parking area with around 105 stalls. According to the petitioner, the proposed facility would serve around 20 trucks from Whimsy’s fleet. The petitioner estimates that there would be around 90 to 100 truck trips total to and from the site per day. The facility would be surrounded by a security fence with an access gate for trucks entering the site. There would be one entrance off Houbolt Road.
The subject site is located on the west side of Houbolt Road, which was reconstructed into a four-lane road several years ago when the Houbolt Road Bridge was completed over the Des Plaines River to provide a connection between Interstate 80 and CenterPoint Intermodal Center. The lot is 247 feet wide and 1,239 feet deep with a petroleum pipeline angled across the rear half of the property. The site previously contained a farmstead and is currently vacant. The area surrounding the site is a mix of incorporated City of Joliet and unincorporated Will County. The incorporated City properties have industrial zoning, while the surrounding unincorporated County properties are rural residential and zoned County A-1 (agricultural).
The south side of the subject site is adjacent to a 30-foot-wide unincorporated parcel that contains a driveway for the rural residential property located south of the west side of the subject site. Across the 30-foot parcel to the south of the east side of the subject site is the existing Whimsy terminal at 3901 Houbolt Road. In 2022, the City Council approved the annexation of the 3901 Houbolt Road property, classification to the I-1 (light industrial) district, and a Special Use Permit to allow a truck terminal. Whimsy subsequently developed the site with an approximately 9.5-acre facility containing a logistics building and trailer parking area. Directly adjacent to the north of the subject site is an unincorporated rural residential property. The rear of the subject site abuts a 77-foot-wide pipeline property with County A-1 zoning; to the west of the pipeline is undeveloped CenterPoint property zoned I-TC (intermodal terminal - industrial park).
The petitioner is requesting container storage and stacking up to three high at the proposed facility. Whimsy picks up containers from the Union Pacific and BNSF intermodal terminals in Joliet and Elwood on behalf of third-party logistics providers and shippers and then delivers them to local and regional warehouses and distribution centers. Whimsy is not always able to deliver these containers to their destination on the same day, so the petitioner requests to temporarily store these containers on site as needed. The petitioner is willing to limit the storage area to exclude the front portion of the site per staff’s recommendation. The petitioner estimates that most containers would be stored for only a day or two, but some could be stored for longer time periods. Container storage is not permitted by-right in the I-1 (light industrial) or I-2 (general industrial) districts, but is allowed by special use in the I-2 district. Therefore, the petitioner needs approval of a Special Use Permit and Variation of Use to allow container storage and stacking in the I-1 district.
The site will need to have perimeter landscaping in accordance with the Zoning Ordinance’s Landscape and Screening Regulations, including a 30-foot landscape area along the east side and a 15-foot landscape area along the north and south sides adjacent to the facility. There is no development planned on the portion of the site south of the pipeline that runs across the rear of the property. Landscape improvements will not be required on or south of the pipeline.
The development will be required to comply with other Zoning Ordinance requirements, including but not limited to the non-residential design standards and the parking standards. The trailer parking stalls will be subject to the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program per the terms of the approved ordinance for truck parking facilities. The site will be required to connect to City water and sewer at the time of development. Water and sewer connection fees and development impact fees will be required. All public improvements will be required per the Subdivision Regulations and the requirements of the Public Works and Public Utilities Departments.
Staff finds that the storage of single / unstacked containers on site would not be out of character with the area, since containers have a similar height and profile as a parked trailer, and there are existing warehouse and trucking facilities in the vicinity that include trailer parking on their sites.
Staff finds that the special use and variation of use requests to allow container storage meet the applicable criteria. Staff finds that unstacked container storage on site would not be detrimental to public health and safety nor will it impede the normal and orderly development and improvement of the surrounding property. The storage of single / unstacked containers on site would not be out of character with the area, since containers have a similar height and profile as a parked trailer, and there are existing warehouse and trucking facilities in the vicinity that include trailer parking on their sites. The surrounding area still includes rural residential uses as well as other I-1 allowed uses. There are sites with container stacking closer to the intermodal rail yard, but the developed areas immediately around the subject site do not have or allow container stacking.
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARING:
The Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on this matter at their meeting on May 21, 2026. John Argoudelis, attorney, represented the petition. One person spoke in opposition to the petition. Meeting minutes are attached.
RECOMMENDATION OF THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS:
Jane McGrath Schmig moved that the Zoning Board of Appeals recommend denial of the Special Use Permit to allow container storage and stacking up to three-high, located at 23656 S. Houbolt Road. Debbie Radakovich seconded the motion, which passed with five (5) aye votes and no nay votes. Voting aye were: Bias, Hennessy, Radakovich, McGrath Schmig, and Stiff. Voting nay were: none. Absent were: Nachtrieb.
Debbie Radakovich moved that the Zoning Board of Appeals recommend denial of the Variation of Use to allow container storage and stacking up to three-high in the I-1 (light industrial) district, located at 23656 S. Houbolt Road. Jane McGrath Schmig seconded the motion, which passed with five (5) aye votes and no nay votes. Voting aye were: Bias, Hennessy, Radakovich, McGrath Schmig, and Stiff. Voting nay were: none. Absent were: Nachtrieb.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
If Council does not concur with the recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Mayor and City Council should adopt an Ordinance approving a Special Use Permit to allow container storage and stacking up to three-high, subject to the following conditions:
1. That container storage be prohibited on the east 200 feet of the site;
2. That the Special Use granted herein, per Section 47-5.2(E) Special Uses, shall terminate and lapse unless a building permit or certificate of occupancy is obtained not later than 180 days of the effective date of this ordinance and the erection or alteration of a building is started or the use is commenced within such period; and
3. Should the property be declared a public nuisance, it may be subject to a rehearing and a possible revocation of the Special Use Permit.
If Council does not concur with the recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Mayor and City Council should adopt an Ordinance approving a Variation of Use to allow container storage and stacking up to three-high in the I-1 (light industrial) district, subject to the following conditions:
1. Should the property be declared a public nuisance, it may be subject to a rehearing and a possible revocation of the Variation of Use.
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