Chicago Suburb Bans Warehouse, Logistics Development

The Board of Trustees in Deerfield, a northern suburb of Chicago, have unanimously amended the zoning code to effectively ban motor freight terminals, logistics centers, fulfillment centers and facilities for truck parking or movement.

According to Andrew Lichterman, the deputy village manager, the zoning amendments make it “abundantly clear” that warehouse and distribution facilities are prohibited within Deerfield, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Additional amendments included new traffic plan requirements for certain special use permits over 50K SF, and additional special use reviews for businesses that propose to operate overnight or include retail sales.

Mayor Daniel Shapiro initiated the zoning changes, which will be finalized on Feb. 20.

The industrial sprawl in suburban Chicago is getting pushback from local governments over increased pollution, noise and traffic from 24/7 warehouse operations. Deerfield’s ban is aimed at preventing empty office properties from being converted into industrial facilities, something that has become common in the area as companies reduce office footprints and same-day fulfillment centers expand.

The suburbs around Deerfield have seen a surge in office parks being converted into industrial fulfillment centers, parcel hubs and sorting facilities, according to a memo from Deerfield’s Plan Commission to the mayor and Board of Trustees.

“The conversion of office parks to industrial centers have suburban areas faced with increased truck traffic and related adverse impacts such as increased safety risk to smaller vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists; increased street maintenance, traffic congestion, reduced levels of service on streets and at intersections; and increased emissions,” the memo said.

Last year, developer Bridge International withdrew an application to annex, rezone and redevelop Baxter International’s corporate headquarters offices in Deerfield into an industrial business park.

Bridge had agreed to purchase the medical and hospital equipment maker’s 101-acre corporate office complex for $100M. Its plan, to redevelop 10 office buildings at the Deerfield HQ into 1.1M SF of warehouses, drew stiff opposition from Deerfield residents over potential traffic and noise.

In September, Baxter and Bridge abandoned the plan and Baxter pulled the property off the market, signaling it would continue to occupy the Deerfield site.

“We have elected to take the Deerfield property off the market and remain in our existing location,” Baxter CEO Jose Almeida said, in a letter to employees, reversing the company’s previous strategy of reducing its office footprint as part of a hybrid work schedule.