TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Dustin Anderson, Director of Community Development
SUBJECT:
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Ordinance Approving a Variation of Use to Allow an Indoor and Outdoor Commercial Recreation Facility, a B-3 (General Business) Use, in the R-B (Restricted Business) District, Located at 749 Houbolt Road (ZBA 2026-10)
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BACKGROUND:
The petitioner and contract purchaser, Dive Right In Scuba, Inc., is requesting a Variation of Use to allow an indoor and outdoor commercial recreation facility within the R-B (restricted business) zoning district at 749 Houbolt Road. The site contains an existing recreation facility that was developed in the 1980s for the Greater Joliet Area YMCA. The YMCA operated the Galowich Family branch at this location until it permanently closed at the end of April. Because the YMCA is a non-profit organization, the facility was categorized as a "public and semi-public building," which is a permitted use in the R-B district. The petitioner's proposal is for a commercial facility, which is a permitted use in the B-3 (general business) district. Therefore, the petitioner needs a Variation of Use to occupy and use the existing facility components for their commercial proposal at this location.
The site currently contains an approximately 25,000-square-foot building with an indoor swimming pool, indoor basketball courts, and a fitness center. The site also contains surface parking around the building, two baseball fields, an outdoor walking track, and open grass fields. The petitioner's proposal, called The Flex, will include several primary uses that are similar to the existing operations at the facility and will use many of the existing facility components. These proposed uses include: aquatics programming, including swimming instruction, using the existing indoor swimming pool; indoor basketball for a local youth organization (No Mercy Basketball) on the existing indoor courts; retail and training areas related to scuba instruction and aqu...
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