(A) Purpose. The OR Office Research District is designed to allow for the establishment of corporate headquarters and research laboratories and facilities in a spacious setting containing large amounts of open space, which constitutes an appropriate entryway to the city from the west.
(B) Conditions of use. Uses allowed in the OR Office Research District are subject to the following conditions:
(1) All business, servicing, processing and storage shall be conducted within, and all equipment shall be located in, completely enclosed buildings;
(2) No manufacturing or assembly shall be permitted, except as is incidental to or accessory to the principal use of the premises;
(3) No merchandise shall be displayed or handled on the premises, except such as is incidental or accessory to the principal use of the premises; and
(4) No use established in the OR District shall produce any noise, vibrations, smoke dust, odor or other similar noxious environmental impacts which can be measured outside of any building.
(C) Permitted uses. The following uses are permitted in the OR Office Research District:
(1) Corporate headquarters;
(2) Offices: business, professional and governmental;
(3) Medical laboratories and scientific research laboratories, including, but not limited to, pure research, product development and research manufacturing facilities; provided, however, that no such laboratories shall be utilized for animal research or experimentation nor shall any use of such laboratories result in offensive noises or odors, hazardous conditions or other similar noxious environmental impact;
(4) Accessory uses incidental to and located within an office structure, and primarily for service to and use of the employees of the office development as follows:
(a) Banks and other financial institutions, not including drive-up facilities;
(b) Retail sales for the convenience of the occupants of the development such as newsstands, tobacconists, drugstores and barber shops;
(c) Recreational and health club facilities;
(d) Private clubs, employee cafeterias and standard restaurant facilities;
(e) Such accessory uses shall be subject to the following limitations:
1. Such establishments shall not have an outdoor entrance or outdoor sign;
2. Not more than 10% of the total gross floor area of any individual building may be devoted to such uses as set forth in division (C)(4)(b) above; and
3. Not more than 25% of the total gross floor area of any individual building may be devoted to such uses.
(5) Accessory buildings.
(D) Special uses. Special uses may be allowed in the OR Office Research District as provided in § 159.045.
(E) Lot size, coverage and open space requirements.
(1) Minimum lot size. Each lot shall contain not less than ten acres.
(2) Maximum coverage by structures. The sum total of the ground area covered by all structures shall not exceed 25% of the zoning lot.
(3) Minimum open space. The sum total of the ground area continuously maintained unobstructed by buildings or other structures of off-street parking and loading and appropriately landscaped as permanent open space shall not be less than 25% of the zoning lot. Walkways and bicycle paths shall be counted as open space, even if covered with impervious surfaces.
(F) Floor area ratio. The maximum gross square footage of building area permitted on the site shall not exceed a floor area ratio of 0.25.
(G) Yard requirements. No principal or accessory building shall be located closer to a property line than as follows:
(1) Front yard. One hundred feet, except 150 feet along Illinois Route 60;
(2) Corner side yard. One hundred feet;
(3) Interior side yard. Forty feet;
(4) Rear yard. Twenty-five feet; and
(5) Transitional yards adjacent to residential districts. One hundred fifty feet. In addition, parking shall not be permitted within 25 feet of a residential district and there shall be dense, year-round landscaping of that 25-foot space.
(H) Height requirements. The maximum height of any building shall not exceed 45 feet. Mechanical equipment or other utility components may be located on the roof of a building above such height but shall be screened from public view with materials harmonious with the building in order to minimize the appearance of any such mechanical equipment or other utility components, or they shall be located so as not to be visible form any public street, residential area or right-of-way.
(I) Number of buildings on a zoning lot. The principal buildings are allowed on a zoning lot, except that there shall be not less than 50 feet between principal buildings, unless buildings are connected by pedestrian bridges.
(J) Parking and loading requirements. Required off-street parking and loading spaces shall be provided in accordance with the provisions of §§ 159.130 through 159.139. In addition, no off-street parking lot shall be located within 15 feet of a side or rear lot line (25 feet adjacent to a residential district lot line) and no parking structure shall be located in any portion of any required yard.
(1) Land banking of required parking accessory to office uses. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the total number of off-street parking spaces required to be paved pursuant to § 159.136 for office and research uses in the OR District may be reduced by up to 20%, subject to acceptance of the following conditions by the property owner:
(a) The City Manager shall have the right to direct and require the property owner or his or her successor, at any time subsequent to the completion of the development, to increase the number of parking spaces provided to serve said development up to the maximum required by this chapter for the property in question as if no special permit for land banking had been granted;
(b) An application for a reduction in parking spaces pursuant to this division (J)(1) shall be accompanied by alternate detailed parking plans. One plan shall show the full number of parking spaces required pursuant to § 150.136; the other plan shall show the reduced number of parking spaces proposed to be provided and shall also show the landscaping treatment of areas proposed to be reserved for future parking requirements. Both such plans shall show the location on the site of all parking areas, the exact number of parking spaces to be provided, and complete details for wheel stops, markings, drainage, surfacing, screening and landscaping, lighting and access. The location, arrangement, access, surface drainage, wheel stops and screening and landscaping, and illumination of such parking area shall be subject to the approval of the approval of the City Engineer;
(c) As a condition of the grant of such reduction, the applicant shall file with the City Clerk his or her unconditional agreement that areas reserved for future parking shall be maintained as landscaped open space until and unless required to be used for off-street parking pursuant to such special permit. The agreement and covenant shall be recorded with the Recorder of Deeds of the county.
(2) Loading requirements.
(a) For buildings with 50,000 to 250,000 square feet (gross), one loading space is required.
(b) For buildings with more than 250,000 square feet (gross), two loading spaces are required.
(K) Landscape plan. Prior to the issuance of a building permit for any development in the OR Office Research District, a landscape plan shall be submitted to and approved by the Director of Parks, Forestry and Public Works. All open space areas (areas not developed with a building or an impervious surface and not considered natural resources as described in division (L) below) shall be appropriately landscaped in accordance with said plan and shall include the following, which shall be considered minimum requirements:
(1) All areas required to be landscaped shall be covered with turf, ground cover and/or other plantings;
(2) Only those portions of the lot or building site which are used directly for parking spaces, aisles, driveways or walkways, shall be paved;
(3) One tree shall be provided for each 1,000 square feet of required open space, which trees shall be not less than three and one-half inches in caliper. All trees shall be of the type and variety specified in the landscape plan and shall be located in general conformity with the landscape plan. Credit shall be given for existing trees;
(4) In parking areas, at least 120 square feet of landscaping shall be provided for every six required parking spaces; and
(5) Any earth berms included in the landscaping plan shall be rounded and natural in character and shall be designed to obscure automobiles. No such berm shall have a slope steeper than one foot of vertical rise for every two feet or horizontal run.
(L) Natural resources. To the extent, possible, the development of all site plans must incorporate the preservation of existing environmental features on the site. Said features to be preserved shall include floodplain, wetlands, woodlands and all other natural features worthy of preservation.
(M) Refuse collection areas. All refuse collection areas shall be contained within the walls of the office structure and shall be refrigerated if they contain food or other putrescible materials.
(N) Outdoor storage. No outdoor storage shall be permitted.
(O) Telephone and electrical service. All on-site electrical lines and telephone lines installed after the effective date of this chapter shall be placed underground. Transformer or terminal equipment shall be visually screened from view, from streets and adjacent properties.
(P) Modifications. The City Council may approve modifications in connection with a particular development plan which are consistent with the purposes of this chapter.
(Prior Code, § 46-50) (Ord. eff. 1-15-1972; Ord. 91-1(A), passed 1-7-1991)