Industrial Land Uses (1400 Series)

Table of Contents

Mineral Extraction (1410)

Definition: Includes coal mining; crude petroleum and natural gas mining; stone, sand, and clay quarrying. Includes active sites, as well as inactive sites which may contain water but show no attempt at reclamation or re-use.

Discussion:

Examples:

Q&A:

  • Q: Some of the parcels that were coded Ag through automation have a significant portion which is actually Mineral Extraction. Should they be left as Ag or changed?
    • A: The original automated procedures had a threshold of 25%, meaning 25% of the landcover pixels falling in the parcel had to have an agricultural classification. Since Mineral Extraction is considered a “developed” land use, it carries greater land use weight, and would trump the developed land use. For these mixed parcels, recode to Mineral Extraction if at least 25% of the parcel is covered by this activity (including pits, ponds and staging areas).

General Industrial < 100,000 s.f. RBA (1420)

Definition: Includes smaller-scale manufacturing and warehousing operations. Primary identification criteria is the categorization of built property as “Industrial” by county assessor, and is not involved in mineral extraction (1410), larger-scale Industrial uses (series 1430), or storage (1450). Includes dominant 2-digit NAICS code where available.

Discussion: If the property is in an industrial context (county-classed as IND, and surrounded by other industrial properties), but a business occupying that space just happens to be more of an “urban mix” activity but could just as easily be occupied by an industrial-type business (with examples being an auto repair shop and small-scale tool-and-die operation, respectively), then the parcel can remain Industrial. While the Inventory is parcel-based and suggests a very high level of specificity, we do need to allow for some generalization to account for the fact that we will:

  • never get everything exactly right, and…
  • …even if we did, it will only be right as long as that auto-repair shop stays at that location.

The concern has to do with how we will update this in the future. Whereas in this 2010 version a high percentage of parcels were coded via manual review, updates will hopefully be done in a more automated fashion, involving doing a comparison of a new parcel file to what the county provided us in 2010. For updates, the plan is that indicators of land use change would include:

  • New PIN numbers or changes in parcel geometry
  • a change in the county’s classification of the parcel (say, from IND to COM),
  • or a radical change in the property value relative to surrounding properties.

In this kind of situation we would miss the proverbial change from Urban Mix to Industrial General if the building tenant changes. For the purposes of regional planning and analysis, I think it’d be better that we were correct in the general sense (Industrial) than to be “right” at this given point in time.

That said, the context has to be seriously considered. Will County had many parcels classed by the Assessor as “commercial” which were structurally and functionally industrial properties; in those cases the coders were instructed to ignore the Assessor and assign the appropriate Industrial code.

Examples:

Q&A:

  • Q: How does a publishing company get coded?
    • A: If the building actually has production of published materials going on and it is under 100,000 sq ft, then code it as 1420 General Industrial. You can probably tell this by seeing that it has docks for loading published materials and has a fairly large parking lot for employees involved in the publishing. Also much of the building will have a flat roof and few windows. If there are many docks, but a very small parking lot, then this may just be a warehouse. If the building appears to have many offices and no docks, then it’s probably an office building for the publishing company and no actual publishing is going on at that site.
  • Q: How does a research & development company get coded?
    • A: If the building is less than 100k sq ft and the county has coded the property Industrial, then code this 1420. If the building is greater than 100k sq ft and coded Industrial by the county, then follow the guidelines for that size of a building which will be to code it 1433.
  • Q: How do I code the parcel pictured below? It is owned by University of Chicago and the county classifies it as Exempt. 2005 Land Use coded it as Industrial General. It is located much farther south than the main U of C campus and research shows it to be University of Chicago Press.

    • A: This would be coded 1420 Industrial General once again in 2010. Even though it is Exempt by the county and is owned by University of Chicago, it is not a property where students and professors converge. They print books here.

  • Q: Below is an image of a privately owned small business that is a recyling and waste services company. The county use code is 517 Commercial One-story store which does not seem to fit what I can see on this parcel. How should I code this?

    • A: If we did know that there was some sort of retail activity going on here, we might code is Urban Mix, but it looks much for industrial. If the overall primary activity is just trucks and bins as can be seen in the photo, then code it 1420 General Industrial. If you did determine that there was actual sorting/processing of recyclables happening on this property, then it could be coded 1564 Other Utility/Waste.

Industrial Properties Greater Than 100,000 s.f. RBA (1430 Series)

This category includes industrial properties where total building size is 100,000 square feet or larger. Building size figures rely on Co-Star database, where available; use assignment based on Dun & Bradstreet company data and visual interpretation of imagery. Includes dominant 2-digit NAICS code where available. Company on more than one parcel: In many cases, a large industrial building may be located in more than one adjacent parcels and all with the same owner. Occasionally, there will be more than one building on these parcels. If the combined size of all buildings on adjacent industrial parcels with the same owner is greater than 100,000 sq ft, then you can consider that the property has met the 100,000 sq. ft. rule.

This is also true for refineries or oil/chemical storage tank facilities. On these properties you do not typically see large buildings but rather large areas of impervious surface with many large tanks and other equipment. Measure all the impervious area that has tanks or other equipment on it which may be located on one parcel or more adjacent parcels with the same owner. If that area is 10 acres or larger, then consider it to be large industrial and code the parcels either 1431 Manufacturing or 1432 Warehousing/Distribution depending on which activity predominates on those parcels.

NOTE: Especially with more modern industrial buildings, it’s really difficult to tell from the air whether or not a building’s purpose is primarily manufacturing or warehousing. In many cases these buildings were built on spec to accommodate either activity. Because of this, consider the default code for such properties to be 1433 (Flex/Indeterminate), and only assign the 1431 Manufacturing or 1432 Warehousing codes when there is strong evidence that the property can support one activity to the exclusion of the other. Also, if a parcel is coded industrial by the county, the building is greater than 100,00 s.f., and the company appears to be involved in research and development activities at this site, code this 1433 since we have not specifically addressed this business activity in the classification scheme.

A note about the NAICS codes: they describe what industry the company is involved in, but not necessarily the activity at the site. A company that is primarily involved in manufacturing might primarily or only have warehouse/distribution space at a particular location.

Manufacturing/Processing (1431)

Definition: Properties where the manufacturing of goods is the sole on-site activity.

Discussion:

Examples:

Q&A:

  • Q: The photo below shows a large fiberglass manufacturing company with their manufacturing facility on W 59th St and then 2 additional parcels along the Sanitary & Ship Canal which were coded as Other Linear in 2005. How should I code these parcels along the canal?

    • A: Even though these two parcels along the canal are owned by the manufacturing company, it appears that location is involved in the transfer of goods to/from the factory. Therefore looking at those 2 parcels from a functional standpoint, they would once again be coded 1520 Other Linear Transportation even though they are owned by the manufacturing company. If the parcels were adjacent to the large manufacturing complex, then it could be appropriate to include them in the manufacturing code, but in this case, they are not.

  • Q: How do I code the large refinery in the photo below?

    • A: In this case, there is no large building to measure to meet the 100,000 sq ft rule. Measure the impervious area which contains tanks and refinery processing equipment. If that area is 10 acres or larger, then code it 1431 Manufacturing since a refinery processes oil into other products.

Warehousing/Distribution (1432)

Definition: Primary activity on the parcel is the storage and distribution of goods. Does not include commercial storage (see 1450).

Discussion: These properties are commonly identified by:

  • Copious amounts of truck access;
  • Flat roof, with little evidence of a heavy power draw;
  • Not much car parking (these operations require relatively few employees.

Examples:

Exel North American Logistics, Inc. Note small parking lot for employees relative to building size. Building is over 250,000 sq. ft.

Q&A:

Flex or Indeterminate (1433)

Definition: Industrial properties where there is no clear use, or is a mix of office space with manufacturing and/or warehousing.

Discussion: In new industrial areas, you may find 100,000+ sq ft buildings that are not yet occupied which have been “built on spec” meaning they were built on speculation without having tenants yet identified. These large industrial buildings are such that they can be used for manufacturing, warehousing, or distribution depending on the needs of the company that occupies the space. In more established industrial parks, you may find such a building that is currently vacant. These buildings are good examples of when to code a parcel as 1433 Industrial Flex/Indeterminate.

Examples:

Large corporate campus. In the photo below is what in 2010 was the large corporate campus for Cardinal Health (formerly Allegiance Healthcare). In several large parcels are a mix of office space and of manufacturing/shipping on the same property. Because of the size and the mix of “brains” (office) and “brawn” (manufacturing/shipping) in the same parcels, code this as 1433.

Another example of a large industrial complex which would be coded 1433 is Cinespace Chicago Film Studios on Chicago’s near southwest side on the site of the former Ryerson Steel Company. While this studio complex is in the entertainment industry, people don’t actually go there to be entertained, rather movies and television shows are filmed there so code it 1433 because of campus size and variety of activities on properties.

A third example of a large corporate campus, and which also includes the world headquarters, is Abbott Laboratories in Lake County. While the campus includes large office buildings for the world headquarters, it also has manufacturing and distribution on the campus, so code the entire campus 1433.

Large indeterminate building. In the photo below is a building over 100,000 sq ft owned by McKesson Corporation which internet research shows is involved in many different ventures. It is not clear what is going on at this particular location. The county has coded the property Industrial. While it does appear there is distribution activity, there is also a great deal of parking spaces which would suggest manufacturing and/or office space. Because the county codes it as industrial, the building is over 100k sq ft, and the activity is unclear, code such a parcel 1433.

Q&A:

  • Q: How do I code the building shown below. Lake County classifies it as Commercial. it is technology services, also called at “data-hosing” building for HSBC, a large financial institution. The building is greater than 100,000 Sq Ft. It has a small parking lot and a huge fence surrounding the building.

    • A: Even though the county codes this as Commercial, our code of 1433 Industrial Flex/Indeterminate really is the most appropriate code for this parcel.

  • Q: How do I code the building shown below? Will County classifies half of the building as Commercial and half as Industrial. The building is a laboratory for testing food products, but does have a significant amount of parking. The building is less than 100,000 SF, but if it were larger than 100,000 SF, what would it be coded as?

    • A: While this particular building should be coded as General Industrial < 100,000 s.f. RBA (1420) because it is less than 100,000 SF, if it were larger than 100,000 SF it would be coded as 1433 Industrial Flex/Indeterminate. While very small things are possibly manufactured here, its use fits more in the Industrial Flex/Indeterminate category. Despite there being a significant number of people who work at this laboratory, the building functions more as an industrial than an office commercial use.

Storage (1450)

Definition: Long-term storage facilities including: commercial(public) storage, yacht/boat storage, and auto junkyards; in other words, where things go to sit and do nothing.

Discussion: Commercial storage is often called “self-storage” where individuals or small companies rent space to store their goods.

Many junk yards or salvage yards for autos and/or trucks also can be businesses where used parts are sold to the public. We will still code these as Storage 1450.

Examples:

Q&A:

  • Q: How should a company that moves and stores goods for people or businesses be coded?
    • A: Code this as Warehousing/Distribution 1432. This would include professional moving companies that also store people’s goods and it would include a place like Iron Mountain that stores papers for companies.
  • Q: How should a large facility that is a place where small businesses can store their own goods be coded?
    • A: Code this as Storage 1450. This would be considered public storage even though the customer storing the property is a small business.