Home » News » Howard commission backs plan for 80,000-square-foot building

Howard commission backs plan for 80,000-square-foot building

By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

HOWARD – A site plan to construct an 80,000-square-foot building for manufacturing and converting paper products at 1480 Brookfield Ave. in Howard was approved Monday, April 15, by the village’s Plan Commission.

The plan conditions approved for Soar Manufacturing/KSR Holdings LLC include having additional masonry on the full front of the buildings facing Brookfield Avenue, rather than just by where the building entrance extends on the west.

Dave Wiese, community development director, noted the layout is following a trend in the Brookfield Industrial Park with the building being set farther back while having a stormwater pond in front next to the road.

Wiese said the submitted plans calling for a pre-engineered metal building only had masonry in the front where the office area sticks out from the west side, compared to most buildings in the area having brick or masonry along the entire front.

“Otherwise, all the concerns that staff has are basically similar to any other projects,” he said.

Aside from favoring the additional masonry on the building’s front and landscaping along a berm on the south of the property, the commission included conditions that would be typically used for a development on property zoned I-3 Industrial.

The site plan is also required to have: all parking lots and storage areas paved with asphalt; a stormwater management plan approved by the village’s Engineering Department; all lighting being the 90-degree cutoff or box style; and any new garbage or recycle areas screened by landscaping or fencing.

Burt McIntyre

Village President Burt McIntyre, who took exception with no one representing the project appearing at the commission’s meeting, said he didn’t want a building constructed in that area of the Brookfield Industrial Park “that is totally different than the kind of the architecture that’s become a standard in that area.”

“It’s a new area, and we’re developing it,” McIntyre said. “We’d kind of like to make it kind of a showplace.”

Wiese said the project layout is such that any expansion would be taking place to the east.

Last September, the village board approved a development agreement with Roger and Starlene Kimps of KSR Holdings for the property, for which the need to fill the land for locating the project at the site has been estimated to cost from $450,000 to $700,000.

The project site is located in the village’s Tax Incremental Financing District No. 6. The agreement calls for refunding up to 95 percent of the new taxes the project would generate during the remaining life of the TIF, which is slated to close in 2028.

Based on an estimated new assessed value of $3.5 million for the building, the projected property tax rebate as listed in the agreement would be $55,295 a year over nine years for a total of $497,655.

Construction has been planned to start this spring with the agreement stating the facility is expected to provide 20 to 45 jobs.

The project plans also note the potential for adding 40,000 more square feet with more jobs.

If the site plan conditions approved by the commission wouldn’t be acceptable to the project developer, Wiese said a project representative could appear at the commission’s meeting next month to seek to have those conditions changed.

“They might have architectural reasons, too, that they don’t want to continue the masonry on the bottom,” he said.

Lessuise cold storage

In other action, the commission approved a site plan for Mark and Mary Lessuise to construct a 500×100-foot cold storage facility at 1380 Gruber Road to provide additional space at the current location of their painting and prefinishing business.

Along with having landscaping similar to the existing building, the conditions for the cold storage facility, which will connect to the existing business with a driveway, also include having: all parking lots and storage areas paved with asphalt; a stormwater management plan approved by the village’s Engineering Department; all lighting being the 90-degree cutoff or box style; and any new garbage or recycle areas screened by landscaping or fencing.

Facebook Comments
Scroll to Top