By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

HOWARD – The village’s Plan Commission unanimously agreed Monday, Oct. 15, to approve a site plan for Ronald Sinclair Construction to construct a 4,800-sqaure-foot building at 1640 Brookfield Ave. as the future home for Pirate Softball.

After commission members tabled action last month over concerns about how the structure would look aesthetically, they heard Monday from Joan Sinclair, who noted the plans have added a window to the front of the building and other changes so that the structure wouldn’t look a warehouse-type building.

“We made it look more like a business, if you ask me,” she said.

Joan Sinclair said the building would be 80 feet long and 60 feet deep.

The material called for in the site plan includes wood framing, vinyl siding, an asphalt-singled roofing and cultured stone across the street side of the building.

“It looks much better than it did before,” said commission member Ellery Gulbrand.
If needed, a storm water management plan approved by the village’s engineering department is one of the site plan’s conditions.

In addition, all driveway areas and parking lots must be paved with asphalt within a year.

A landscape plan with trees and shrubs that are planted at a ratio of eight trees per acre and 14 shrubs per acre must also be submitted.

Alter Metal addition

Commission members also approved a site plan for Alter Metal for building addition work at 2175 Badgerland Drive.
Community Development Director Dave Wiese said the project includes two small additions to match the exterior of an existing building.

Jay McKeefry of Schuh Construction, contractor for the project, said the building previously was used as a snowmobile part shop that has sat vacant.

“They’ve got a process where they take in a lot of copper, aluminum, and they’re needing to load it out into van trailers, like your typical semi trucks,” McKeefry said. “They really don’t have a good facility for doing that onsite, because so much they take in comes in just dump boxes and whatnot…”

The building addition work along with new loading docks will consist of a steel-framed structure with metal wall panels to match existing materials.

BSC Supply addition

BCS supply at 1510 Brookfield Ave. received approval of its site plan to build an addition at 1510 Brookfield Ave.
Wiese said the 27,000-square foot addition would extend to the east, behind the current structure and match the existing building material.

Commission members backed the site plan with the conditions all parking lots and storage areas are paved with asphalt and a storm water management plan is approved by the village’s engineering department.

The commission also recommended that nearby property at 1550 Brookfield Ave. be rezoned from R-5 Rural Estate Residential to I-1 General Industrial. That rezoning request from SRV Capital LLC is being forwarded to the village board for final approval at its Oct. 22 meeting.