Burr Ridge has adopted an economic development plan that lets potential retailers and other businesses know that the village “is open for business.”
The 125-page document is a guideline for attracting and retaining businesses in the community. It will be updated annual to keep current with available retail space and other statistics, as well as noting successful recruitment and retention efforts.
“There is a lot of basic information in here,” village administrator Steve Stricker said. “We will keep updating this as there are a lot of strategies in place.”
The village’s economic development plan is aimed at:
* highlighting the factors that make Burr Ridge “a special place” for business
* identifying various economic development strategies that the village will pursue to further improve the business climate of the four major business sectors, as well as 11 business subareas
* establishing formal economic development policies related to retaining and attracting business to Burr Ridge
* providing information on the various business sub-areas throughout the village.
Village Board members approved the plan by a 5-1 vote Monday. Trustee Diane Bolos voted against approving the plan feeling that it should have gone before the village’s Plan Commission for input.
“This changes the village,” Bolos said of the economic development plan. “I think the Plan Commission has to have its eyes on it.”
Bolos said the plan calls for signs bigger than the village’s sign ordinance allows and clears the way for a billboard along Interstate 55. She said it also calls for entertainment venues, which she took as meaning theaters, and changing the zoning near the Marriott hotel from office use to residential use.
She noted that experts have examined the village’s sign ordinance and found that it was fine as is.
“Now, we are changing it,” Bolos said.
Stricker stressed that the plan is just a guideline and that any changes from the village’s existing zoning requirements will need to go before the Plan Commission and Village Board for consideration.
“This will support what the commission does,” Stricker said. “We are not going out to try to change the world.”
Stricker said some of the proposals in the plan may never come to fruition and that the plan is to just to let businesses know that the village “will keep an open mind” on development proposals.
Bolos said she did not see why the plan, that took a year to create, could not wait a few more weeks for the Plan Commission to examine it and give its input.
More Top Picks Skimboards
Mayor Mickey Straub, who was part of the team that drew up the economic development plan, said he did not expect the plan to cause a rift on the board and agreed with Stricker that it is just a guide, a way to approach development in the village.
The Village Board will make the decision on any economic development issue, Straub said.
Trustee Tony Schiappa agreed, saying the Village Board will also have the final say on issues of economic development.
“At the end of every Plan Commission meeting, Chairman (Greg) Trzupek always says they are only the recommending body and that we have the final say,” Schiappa said.
Trustee Paul Murphy, who was also a member of the group that drew up the economic development plan, said that the plan shows that the village is business-friendly.
“We want to continue to work with businesses and show that the village is open for business,” Murphy said.
Trustee Al Paveza said he didn’t see a reason for holding up approval of the plan for Plan Commission input.
“We are not making any kind of statement of finalization,” Paveza said. “This is just a way to guide developers and the business community.”
Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press