Where applicable, all principal uses are required to comply with all use standards of this section, whether a permitted or special use, in addition to all other regulations of this Chapter.
1. A. Adult Uses.
1. No adult use is permitted within 500 feet of another existing adult use.
2. No adult use is permitted within 250 feet of any residential district.
3. No adult use is permitted within 250 feet of a place of public assembly.
4. No adult use shall be permitted upon any premises licensed to sell alcoholic liquor.
5. No adult use may be conducted in any manner that permits the observation of any material depicting, describing, or relating to specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities from any public way. This applies to all displays, decorations, signs, show windows, and other openings.
B. Office and Light Industrial Park.
1. Industrial facilities within an office and light industrial park must be conducted wholly within an enclosed building.
2. No outside storage is permitted.
3. Industrial uses must not produce any outside impacts.
C. Places of Public Assembly.
1. Dimensional Standards. The following dimensional standards apply to places of public assembly. If any provisions of this section are inconsistent or in conflict with any other provision of this Chapter, the provisions of this section control.
Dimensional Standard | Neighborhood Facility | Community Facility | Regional Facility |
Minimum Lot Size | 5 acres | 20 acres | 30 acres |
Maximum Gross Floor Area | 11,000 sf | 44,000 sf | 66,000 sf |
Maximum Cubic Feet of Building | 433,600 cubic feet | 1,500,400 cubic feet | 2,400,600 cubic feet |
Maximum Impervious Surface Coverage | 40% | 25% | 20% |
2. Intensity of Use. All public assembly special uses must be noncommercial operations that are operated on a not-for-profit basis and at least 50% of the total gross floor area of any building utilized as a place of public assembly must be nonassembly space.
3. Circulation.
a. Traffic flow must be designed to ensure the least possible impact on neighboring properties and residential streets. To that end, a place of public assembly must:
i. Be located adjacent to and take its access from and have egress to a major arterial street or a collector street as identified in the Comprehensive Plan of the Village of Mettawa.
ii. Not be operated in an existing single-family residence.
b. The permittee and the owner of the proposed assembly use are responsible for all needed improvements to ensure safe traffic conditions are maintained and must provide a traffic study to demonstrate that this provision has been met.
c. Traffic management by uniformed persons authorized to direct traffic, such as police officers, must be provided by the permittee during peak traffic flows and at other times during which the Zoning Administrator finds that additional police presence will ensure safe ingress to and egress from the site of public assembly.
4. Landscape. Adequate landscaping is required to ensure compatibility with the neighborhood. Where the Scenic Easement Overlay applies (Section 16.601), landscaping must be planted between the scenic easement and the closest assembly space sufficient to completely screen the latter from view of a six-foot-tall person standing at the closest point on the scenic easement to the assembly space.
5. Exterior Illumination.
a. All outdoor lighting fixtures must reflect light downward and the face or globe of the fixtures must be recessed so as not to be visible from the view of a six-foot-tall person standing on the perimeter of the site.
b. Exterior lighting cannot be located at a height greater than 15 feet and excessive brightness must be avoided.
c. All exterior lighting fixtures are limited to a maximum illumination of 25 foot-candles and 0.1 foot-candle at the perimeter of the site or at the inside perimeter of any required screening, as the case may be.
d. All exterior lighting must be designed to eliminate illumination one-half hour after the public assembly activities have been concluded each day.
6. Conditions. In addition to the standards for special uses and the standards of this section, the Zoning, Planning, and Appeals Commission and/or the President and Board of Trustees may impose additional conditions that create compatibility with the neighborhood but are the least burdensome to the assemblage use.
7. Nonconformities. Any legal nonconforming or conforming existing place of public assembly established prior to December 19, 2006, cannot be altered or expanded in any manner, unless the alteration is necessary and part of the customary maintenance of the land and structures and does not intensify the existing use of the land and structures.
D. Vehicle Rental Establishment - Secondary.
1. Vehicle rental establishments are allowed only as a secondary use to a hotel.
2. Car wash and maintenance facilities for the automobiles are prohibited as part of vehicle rental establishments.
E. Wind Energy Conversion Systems (WECS).
1. The maximum tower height is 60 feet measured from the grade surrounding the support pad(s) to the base of the wind generator of the WECS measured along the vertical axis of the tower.
2. The minimum tower setback distance from nearest property line is a distance measured from the mean grade surrounding the support pad(s) to the tip of a blade in vertical position measured along the vertical axis of the tower.
3. The minimum distance from guy wire to any given lot line is 75 feet.
4. The blade color must be white or light gray.
5. The tower must be made inaccessible to unauthorized personnel.
6. The application for a special use permit for WECS must be accompanied by the following documents in addition to other documents required by this Chapter:
a. A site plan of the lot upon which the WECS is proposed to be located, prepared and stamped by an Illinois licensed land surveyor, indicating the location of the proposed WECS, existing and proposed structures, aboveground utility lines, and any other significant features or appurtenances.
b. Structural drawings, prepared and stamped by a registered professional engineer, of the wind tower, including pad design and guy wire design, if applicable, as well as drawings that demonstrate the method of making the tower inaccessible to unauthorized personnel.
c. Drawings and specifications, prepared and stamped by a registered professional engineer, of the generator, hub and blades, electrical support facilities, including transformers, cables, and control devices.
d. Sufficient data and documentation to establish that the WECS will not produce noise levels in excess of those performance standards contained in this Chapter.
e. Sufficient data and documentation to establish that the installation will not cause electromagnetic interference.
7. Upon the issuance of any given special use permit and after building permit plans have been approved and the WECS has been installed, the operation of the WECS must comply with the following regulations, whether or not the special use permit contains or alludes to them:
a. Noise control:
i. WECS cannot exceed 55 dB(A) at the lot line closest to the wind energy system. This sound pressure level may be exceeded during short-term events such as utility outages and/or severe wind storms.
ii. Following construction of the WECS, the Zoning Administrator will authorize a person to perform and record sound measurements of ambient and maximum permitted decibels emitted by the WECS to determine ambient and operating decibel levels.
(1) Decibel level readings must be measured at the closest lot line to the WECS and the sound level must be measured on a sound level meter using the “A-weighing network.”
(2) If maximum readings are exceeded in violation of this section, the installation is considered a public nuisance, which must be abated immediately.
iii. At any time after the installation of a WECS, upon his receipt of a complaint upon which the WECS is located, the Zoning Administrator will authorize a person to perform and record measurements of ambient and maximum permitted decibels.
(1) Following such recordation, such person must submit a report of such sound measurements to the Zoning Administrator for his/her review.
(2) The costs for the measuring and recordation services must be paid by the complainant unless maximum permitted decibel readings have been exceeded, in which case the WECS owner must pay the costs.
(3) Any violation must be corrected within 90 day's time from the date of the report, and if the noise violation cannot be remedied, the WECS must be removed within that time.
b. Electromagnetic interference:
i. The WECS installation must comply with Federal Communications Commission Regulation 47 CFR 15.
ii. Whenever an owner of land in the vicinity of the lot upon which the WECS is located complains to the Zoning Administrator that such WCS is generating electromagnetic interference, the Zoning Administrator will authorize a person to perform an investigation of the existence of such electromagnetic interference.
(1) Following such investigation, such person must submit a report of his findings to the Zoning Administrator his/her for review.
(2) The costs for the investigation services in connection with such complaint of such electromagnetic interference must be paid by the complainant unless there is non-compliance with Federal Communications Commission Regulation 47 CFR 15, in which case the WECS owner must pay the costs.
iii. If electromagnetic interference is being caused by a WECS, the installation is deemed in violation of this section and the WECS is deemed a public nuisance, which must be abated within 90 days from the date of the report. If the electromagnetic interference cannot be remedied, the WECS must be removed.
c. If the WECS for any reason fails to generate power for one year or more, the Zoning Administrator must cause the owner thereof to remove the WECS within 90 days.
d. On the second anniversary of the issuance of the special use permit for the installation of any given WECS and every two years thereafter, the owner of such WECS must submit an Illinois licensed professional engineers' structural report to the Zoning Administrator certifying to the structural integrity of such WECS' wind generator, tower, and the entire support system.
F. Wireless Telecommunications and Radio/Television Towers.
1. Purpose and Interpretation.
a. The purpose of these standards is to provide specific regulations for the placement, construction, and modification of wireless telecommunications facilities and radio/television towers. The provisions of this section are not intended and are not interpreted as prohibiting or having the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services, nor are these provisions to be applied in such a manner as to unreasonably discriminate between providers of functionally equivalent personal wireless services. If any provisions of this section are inconsistent or in conflict with any other provision of this Chapter, the provisions of this section control.
b. In the course of reviewing any request for any approval, the Zoning, Planning, and Appeals Commission must act within a reasonable period of time after the request is duly filed with the Village Clerk, taking into account the nature and scope of the request. A recommendation to deny such a request must be in writing and supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record.
c. Should the application of this section have the effect of prohibiting a person or entity from providing personal wireless service or other telecommunications service to all ora portion of the Village, such provider may petition the President and Board of Trustees for an amendment to this section. The President and Board of Trustees, upon receipt of such a petition, must promptly undertake review of the petition and make a determination on the petition within a reasonable period of time, taking into account the nature and scope of the petition. A decision to deny such a petition must be in writing and supported by substantial evidence contained in a written record.
2. Small Wireless Facilities. Small wireless facilities are regulated by the Village Code in Chapter 5, Article VI.
3. Wireless Telecommunications Facilities and Radlo/Teievision Towers as Accessory Uses. Wireless telecommunications facilities and radio/television towers are considered an accessory use when they meet all of the following standards and do not require a special use. All other wireless telecommunications facilities and radio/television towers are considered a special use.
a. Wireless telecommunications facilities and radio/television towers meet all minimum setback requirements of the district.
b. Wireless telecommunications facilities and radio/television towers meet all applicable federal laws and regulations.
c. Wireless telecommunications facilities and radio/television towers as an accessory use when either:
i. It is located in a wooded area and is camouflaged to appear to be a tree similar to other trees in such wooded area.
ii. It is directly affixed to an existing building and the height of the radio and/or television tower and/or other transmitting and receiving equipment or personal wireless telecommunication facility does not exceed ten feet above the roof of an existing building, whether or not a roof-mounted antenna is used.
4. Standards.
a. Tower Height. FCC licensed wireless telecommunication towers and radio/television towers are limited to a maximum height of 60 feet. However, the applicant must demonstrate that tower height is the minimum required to provide satisfactory operation, which may be less than 60 feet.
b. Color. Towers and antenna support structures and antennas must have a finish color of non-contrasting black, blue, gray, or other color which minimizes the visibility of the antenna support structure.
c. Compatibility. Wireless telecommunications facilities and radio/television towers must be compatible architecturally with adjacent buildings and land uses or otherwise integrated, through location and design, to blend in with existing characteristics of the site to the extent practical. Site location and erection of towers and facilities must preserve the pre-existing character of the site as much as possible. Existing vegetation must be preserved or improved, and disturbance of the existing topography of the site must be minimized, unless such disturbance will result in less visual impact of the site upon the areas adjacent thereto.
d. Design. Towers must be constructed according to the then current standards of the Electronic Industries Association, the FAA, and the FCC.
e. Equipment Structures. All ground level equipment structures must comply with the requirements of the Mettawa Building Code, cannot exceed 300 square feet in floor area, or a height of 12 feet. Equipment structures must be screened by non-deciduous plantings from the view of persons of at least six feet in height who stand 100 feet from all adjacent lot lines.
f. Fencing. To prevent unauthorized access thereto and minimize any danger to persons, all towers and ground level equipment structures must be fenced from adjacent areas by a six foot high fence meeting the requirements of the Municipal Code of the Village of Mettawa of 2001.
g. Lights and Signs. Unless required by the FCC, all lights, signals, and/or signs of any kind are prohibited on any tower, antenna, and equipment.
h. Off-Street Parking. Paved off-street parking for at least two trucks is required a minimum of ten feet in width and 25 feet in length.
i. Tower Setbacks. All towers must be set back from all lot lines a distance equal to the height of the tower or the required setbacks of the district, whichever is greater.
5. Prohibitions.
a. No wireless telecommunication facilities and radio/television towers are allowed within the R-1 District that has been improved with a principal building. No variance or special use may be granted to allow for a tower.
b. No public utility service use which satisfies the definition of wireless telecommunication facility is permitted in any zoning district in the Village unless it complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations concerning its use and operation.
6. Approvals.
a. In considering approval of wireless telecommunication facilities and radio/television towers, the Zoning, Planning, and Appeals Commission and the President and Board of Trustees must, in addition to the standards for a special use, apply the criteria and other standards of this section and also give due consideration and weight to whether:
i. The plans submitted will provide for co-location of other antenna and equipment on the same support structure, so as to minimize the proliferation of antenna support structures.
ii. The applicant has sought and been denied the opportunity to co-locate its antenna(s) on an existing antenna support structure.
iii. The applicant has made adequate efforts but is unable to obtain a site for its facilities within the O/R District.
b. The Zoning, Planning, and Appeals Commission and the President and Board of Trustees, may impose conditions that require that the applicant allow, on a commercially reasonable basis, other providers of telecommunications services to co-locate additional personal wireless service facilities on a free-standing pole which is part of the applicant's proposed towers and facilities, where such co-location is technologically feasible.
(Ord. 885, passed 11-21-2023)