Land Use: Monee Township Carnival Equipment Site Wins Permit Extension, 5-1

Will County Land Use & Development Committee | October 1, 2026

Article Summary: The Will County Board Land Use & Development Committee on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, voted 5-1 to recommend a first 180-day extension of a special use permit for a carnival equipment storage and maintenance yard on Governors Highway in Monee Township, with Judy Ogalla opposed over asphalt grindings hauled onto the site and the removal of a house and trees.

Modern Midways Extension Key Points:

• SEXT-26-021 would extend the special use permit granted in zoning case ZC-24-060 (S-24-071) through April 15, 2027.
• The county board approved the original permit Oct. 17, 2024; required site development and commercial remodel permits, numbers 2502291 and 2502293, remain under review and have not been issued.
• Section 155-16.40(J)(2) of the zoning ordinance allows the County Board to grant up to four extensions of up to 180 days each for good cause.
• Staff said a permit could be issued “any day now,” possibly before the item reaches the full County Board.

MONEE TOWNSHIP — The Will County Board Land Use & Development Committee on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, voted 5-1 to recommend a first extension of a special use permit for a Monee Township property on Governors Highway where an amusement company stores and repairs carnival rides and trailers between events.

The request, SEXT-26-021, concerns PINs 21-14-29-402-005-0000 and 21-14-29-402-006-0000 at 27007 and Garage Governors Highway, Monee, in County Board District 3. Leland and Coleen Gates are the owners of record and Robert Briggs of Modern Midways Inc. is the agent of record.

The motion came from Sherry Newquist with a second by Raquel Mitchell and carried 5-1, with Ogalla the lone no vote. The extension is granted only if the full County Board adopts the resolution before it, which states the board would approve the extension for 180 days or until April 15, 2027.

A Sept. 21, 2026, memo from Zoning Administrator Marguerite Kenny, AICP, sets out the history. The county board approved ZC-24-060 on Oct. 17, 2024, granting a map amendment from R-2 to C-4 on part of the property, a special use permit for a similar or compatible use to a permitted use in the district for vehicle storage and towing and light equipment sales and rentals with three conditions, and a variance reducing the minimum street setback from 80 feet to 71.86 feet. Kenny wrote that the applicant has since been working on the required site development and commercial remodel permits, numbers 2502291 and 2502293, which remain under review. Special use permits have two years to legally establish the use by having all required permits issued, she wrote, citing Section 155-16.40-J; under Section 155-16.40(J)(2) the county board may extend that period for good cause on up to four separate occasions by up to 180 days each. The applicant submitted its extension application Aug. 28, 2026.

A Land Use Department staff member told the committee the department has worked closely with the project’s builder, identified as Kevin Hart of Indiana Post Frame Buildings, as he completes building plans. “He’s already done some work out there, but he needs to do a little bit more that he’s getting a permit for, and I would suspect that it would be issued any day now,” the staff member said, recommending the extension be granted so the work can be completed and the permit issued. He said the applicant might finish before the item reaches the full board, which would make the extension moot.

Raquel Mitchell asked what had held the project up. Staff said asphalt grindings had been brought onto the property without a completed site development permit, that the department was alerted, and that the proper paperwork is now in the office and under review. Staff clarified in response to further questions that the grindings were stockpiled to be spread as a parking lot base, not processed on site as a business activity.

Mitchell also questioned the address shown on the agenda, which reads “27007 and Garage Governors Highway.” Staff said addresses are assigned through the county’s 911 and GIS systems once permits are issued, and that one of the buildings on the site is listed as a garage.

Ogalla said she had originally supported the conversion but objected to how the site had been handled. “I also called about all the asphalt grindings, because I was shocked at the amount of asphalt grindings that were brought in,” she said, describing a low spot filled with “tons of them.” She said a home on the property was fixed up and looked great, but that an old house on an adjacent property was knocked down along with the trees. “I really didn’t like what they did after the fact. I didn’t know that was their plan to do that all along. So because of that, I’m just going to be a no vote today.”

Staff also explained the “similar or compatible use” mechanism the committee relies on. Where a proposed use is not specifically listed in the zoning code as permitted or allowed by special use, the committee adopted terminology roughly five years ago allowing an applicant to argue its use is similar or compatible to a listed permitted use — here, towing or light equipment sales. “This board determined that that was the case and approved it in 2024,” staff said.

In a statement of intended use dated Sept. 5, 2023, Briggs describes Modern Midways as an amusement company that rents carnival rides, games and food trailers to agricultural fairs and festivals, with portable equipment returning to the location between event rentals for repair and storage. Staff reports note the 3.59-acre combined property is improved with a 96-by-66-foot pole barn present since 1976, that Modern Midways currently operates in Chicago Heights, and that the applicant projects about two to three vehicle trips daily with the use not open to the general public.

The Will-South Cook Soil and Water Conservation District’s Natural Resource Information Report #5649, dated June 13, 2024 and signed by independent contractor Robert Jankowski, determined that activity on the existing property “will have little to no effect on the existing land.” An Illinois Department of Natural Resources EcoCAT report, #2416819 dated June 17, 2024, noted the Illinois Natural Heritage Database shows the Raccoon Grove INAI Site and Raccoon Grove Nature Preserve may be in the vicinity; staff noted the applicant is working with IDNR and that this was added as a condition. The Illinois Department of Transportation, Will County Health Department, Monee Township, Village of Monee and Monee Fire District submitted no comments. A plat of survey by Townline Surveying of Mokena, with field work completed June 26, 2024, places the property in Lot 3 of Ogden’s Subdivision of Raccoon Grove Reserve, recorded June 25, 1851.