A northern suburb of Chicago is close to finalizing an outright ban on warehouses after fighting to thwart a conversion of Baxter International’s sprawling corporate headquarters into a logistics campus, the latest case of residents from California to New Jersey pushing back against truck-heavy development.
The viillage board of trustees in Deerfield, Illinois, this week voted in favor of restricting zoning for uses such as last-mile distribution centers and other warehouses.
That dramatic step comes almost five months after Chicago-based Bridge Industrial called off plans to buy and redevelop the 101-acre Baxter campus amid heated opposition from residents of Deerfield and a neighboring suburb.
Deerfield’s preliminary step toward an outright ban, a move that could be finalized this month, follows high-profile examples of pushback against developments such as logistics facilities that bring delivery truck traffic ever closer to homes.
That trend has accelerated nationally as falling office demand has caused industrial developers to target unwanted offices for redevelopments. It's also because of soaring e-commerce orders that require companies such as Amazon to move warehouses closer to residential rooftops.
New Jersey and California are among states where residents and city officials have been vocally pushing back against what they see as encroachment on neighborhoods.
Deerfield’s village board voted in favor of creating a ban at a meeting earlier this week, the Lake County News-Sun reported, and a final vote is expected Feb. 20.
'Increased Safety Risk'
A report from the village’s plan commission, included in the agenda for this week’s board meeting, mentioned the trend of office campuses becoming “prime development candidates for these increased industrial needs.”
“The conversion of office parks to industrial centers have suburban areas faced with increased truck traffic and related adverse impacts such as increased safety risk to smaller vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists; increased street maintenance, traffic congestion, reduced levels of service on streets and at intersections; and increased emissions,” the report read.
In response, the plan commission recommended banning facilities such as motor freight terminals, fulfillment centers and facilities used for parking and storage of trucks or vans. Some special uses, such as retail sales and small manufacturing operations within a limited industrial district, could be considered by the village.
Other office-to-industrial projects continue throughout the country with relatively little opposition, including Dermody Properties’ ongoing conversion of the 232-acre former Allstate corporate headquarters campus in Glenview, Illinois, into a large logistics campus.
Amid continued high demand for logistics space, developers are getting creative in other ways, including Logistics Property Company’s construction of the first modern vertical warehouse in Chicago near several densely populated neighborhoods.
Among Chicago-area proposals, Bridge’s plan for Deerfield stood out for the immediate and loud opposition from residents of a nearby neighborhood in Riverwoods, Illinois, and other foes.
Last spring, a public meeting about the project was postponed when the crowd grew far too large to fit into Deerfield’s village hall. The meeting later was moved to a high school gymnasium, after which Bridge withdrew its proposal with Deerfield.
Bridge later met with Lake County zoning officials to try to revive the project, before also abandoning that revised plan. Baxter in September informed employees that it was taking the campus off the for-sale market and that the company would remain at its home of almost five decades.