A special use permit hearing is scheduled for 5pm Wednesday, March 16 for a barge fleeting operation planned for the Illinois River in Utica. Lafarge Aggregates wants to have up to 18 barges there for loading or unloading gravel just west of the Illinois 178 bridge. The LaSalle County Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a hearing on it at the Etna Rd. courthouse in Ottawa. The company’s application says material that would have to be sent out by truck from a gravel pit nearby could instead go by barge.
U.S. Geological Survey map supplied by Lafarge Aggregates Illinois in its special use permit application with the LaSalle County Land Use Department. Two black boxes show where the barges will be kept, if the plan is approved.