The Monroe County Zoning Board of Appeals met April 1 for three items centered around Waterloo, each of which was approved following only brief discussion.

At the top of the meeting, the board appointed a new chairman as previous chairman Dennis Rodenberg recently stepped away from the board.

George Obernagel was unanimously appointed as the new chairman. Vicki Taake was subsequently appointed as board secretary as Obernagel had held that position.

The board addressed two business-related items through the evening, the first of which concerned James P. Fitzgibbons of Fitzgibbons Contracting in Waterloo.

Fitzgibbons requested that the property at Kaskaskia Road and Route 3 south of Waterloo – across the road from The Silo at Route 3 – be rezoned from A2 agriculture to B2 highway business.

The board spoke briefly about the request, with a few technical concerns touched upon.

One individual present at the meeting, Tim Buckley, remarked on the exceptionally light attendance of the meeting and voiced concerns about whether appropriate notice had been given for this request.

The item was ultimately approved, with Obernagel abstaining.

Following the meeting. Fitzgibbons explained he doesn’t have any immediate plans for the property and simply wanted to get the parcel rezoned in preparation for a possible future project.

“We really just wanted to go from that agricultural zoning to B2 just because, ultimately, that’s what that area is going to be,” Fitzgibbons said. “We just wanted to get that taken care of. As far as plans, we don’t have anything set and finalized.”

The board also heard a request concerning Joseph Foutch and Samantha Ratterman of JSHC Enterprises, with Foutch present before the board.

This request was for a special use exception to operate a used motor vehicle sales dealership at 1165 S. Market Street in Waterloo near the intersection at Route 3.

Discussion around this item was also brief, with members of the board touching on technical items such as renewal of the exception and the fact that only two non-family employees would be allowed for the business.

An additional concern discussed by the board was the proximity of this dealership to East Bulldog Boulevard, the main road to Waterloo High School, though Foutch said there wouldn’t be any tractor trailers there to block this traffic.

The board also approved this request unanimously.

After the meeting, Foutch spoke with the Republic-Times to explain he has long been in the automotive business and previously operated a lot in Millstadt for several years before recently moving to Waterloo.

“We do a lot of classic cars, custom cars, things like that,” Foutch said. “That’s my main focus, what we’ve been doing over the years. We like unique stuff, nice stuff. So we’re trying to incorporate that down here, and we want to bring good stuff to the community.”

He anticipates typically having around 10-12 cars outside on the property.

The board also heard a request from Allen Schaefer concerning an area/bulk variance to reduce the setback from his property line in order to construct a garage at 5413 State Route 156.

As was noted in the correspondence for this request, the original garage at this property had been lost in a storm.

This request was also approved after brief discussion.