I suppose central Illinois has it's nuances just like any other place, but when it comes to finding a suitable place to build a large project it can become quite the challenge!
The obvious choice is to find a piece of land out of town, yet close to work where you might be able to build a shed and go about your business. But here in Logan County we are faced with the "Five Acre" rule. That means you are restricted from building a house on anything smaller than five-acres and there's not much chance of finding something that will work since most of the land is tied up in Trusts and cannot be sold. Even if you could get it, you'd have to build a house before you were allowed to build an auxiliary building. So you really have to find something already built, but most of those places tend to be an over-priced, run-down piece property with junk barns. I didn't even mention that these country places are mostly heated with propane. Have you seen the price of propane lately!?
We considered buying a house in town and constructing a shop, but that is not allowed due to various zoning regulations regarding percentage of lot used, building size, height and use restrictions.
And finally, Commercial space is very expensive and not really something I've looked into because I really want to be close to the project. I feel it's important to touch the project every day... to stay "connected", even if it's just cleaning up and laying out tools in preparation for the next job. If building the boat was your job, then driving to some remote rented location on a daily basis wouldn't be an issue. You might even get weekends off, but coming home from work only to say "Hello", grab something to eat, change your clothes and drive off to spend the evening with epoxy and foam puts an unacceptable strain on relationships.
Anyway, enough of that!
My wife and I were walking around town a couple months ago and noticed this recently vacated home on the other side of town that was advertised as "For Sale by Owner".
We contacted the Estate Trustee regarding pricing and after further discussions agreed upon terms with a single contingency regarding a Zoning Board Variance to build a workshop with office/storage/kitchen & bath. The house itself is not in good condition and the existing outbuildings need to be torn down before winter, but overall, it'll work for a while.
It just so happens to sit on 2.25 Acres and is within city limits.
Strangely enough, it is zoned Agricultural yet has access to city water/sewer/gas and Cable Internet.
The idea is to build a 40'x80'x12' (12m x 24m x 3.6m) steel building on the back half of the lot:
This arrangement will provide everything I need and also gives plenty of room for a small orchard, vineyard, garden and maybe a hobby farm to keep the kids busy.
Agreeing on a fair price was a five minute affair, but the Zoning Variance required a month of paperwork submission and waiting for meeting dates. We finally got to present our case before the board on August 13, 2014.
At first we assumed it might be a rather simple affair, walk in - answer some questions get a vote and go home. But due to the nature of this property (Agriculture Zoning within town limits) and the size of the building there ended up being an hours worth of give and take over the applicable Zoning Ordinances. But eventually, it came down to a vote and after a few tense moments we were thrilled to get a 6-1 vote in our favor! What a relief, I didn't know something like that could be so stressful!
The purchase contract was signed this evening so now we need to go through the closing process before we can get the place ready for a long winter. Lots of planning, cost estimates and coordination are in the very near future so this blog will be taking a detour to cover that part of the building process.
