Burr Ridge will be getting a fifth hotel and an events center.
Members of the Village Board approved a four-story, 101-room Hampton Inn and a one-story, 17,030-sqaure-foot The Falls event center in a 4-2 vote Monday. Voting against the Harvester Drive projects were trustees Diane Bolos and Guy Franzese.
John Neubauer, corporate general manager for The Falls, said that the hotel and events center, a facility for weddings, banquets and other events, would be a $20 million investment in Burr Ridge.
As proposed, the hotel and events center would share 811 parking spaces with the two office buildings already part of the planned unit development.
Both Bolos and Franzese cited concerns about not enough parking on site for the events center during the week when companies in the office buildings are in operation and the potential for overflow cars to park in the nearby Babson Park and Chestnut Hills residential areas.
Franzese said the village’s police force should not have to add illegal parkers on Harvester Drive or the nearby neighborhoods to their list of duties.
“Follow up on people parking illegally on Harvester Drive? We do not have the resources to deal with that,” Franzese said.
Village administrator Steve Stricker said that similar concerns were raised when the Village Center was being considered, but those fears of having to add staff to handle calls from the shopping center have never materialized.
Police Chief John Madden noted the Police Department actually has two fewer officers on staff now than when the Village Center was considered.
Trustee Janet Ryan Grasso said that there might be additional spaces available for the events center during the week if the Hampton Inn is not full.
“We hope the hotel is at maximum capacity, but with (an average village hotel) occupancy rate of 60 to 70 percent, I am not sure parking is going to be an issue,” Grasso said.
Village code puts the maximum number of people for the events center at 700 people. Neubauer said the facility would be designed to seat about 400 guests and would never be at the building’s capacity. Going with the 700-person figure, the events center would be about 100 parking spots short of meeting village code during the week
In order to alleviate weekday parking concerns, Neubauer said, The Falls has agreed to not host any weekday events during normal working hours that have more than 350 people. That would allow the events center to fall within code requirements, village staff noted.
Residents of nearby subdivisions expressed concerns about patrons of the event center using their neighborhood for overflow parking, potential crime issues from another hotel in the village, revelers taking celebrations outside to the nearby Oak Grove Park, and the appearance of the facilities.
“When I tell people where I live, I won’t say ‘I live by the park.’ I will say, ‘I live by the massive monstrosity,'” said resident Madison Pedersen.
Resident Bill Schultz, a former member of the Burr Ridge Plan Commission, said the village is setting a precedent by allowing shared parking spaces to alleviate a parking deficiency.
“The village has always been about the highest and best use of property provided the developer follows the rules,” Schultz said.
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He said all Burr Ridge residents are being asked to pay for the events center’s parking issues because police resources will need to be used to address problems that arise.
“This is unreasonable,” Schultz said.
Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.