On Monday the Burr Ridge board of trustees approved a special use variation for Are We Live?, a new snack and drinks bar.
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The club is owned by Filippo Rovito, the owner of Capri, and will be located at the County Line Square shopping center. The variance requested permission to open despite not having the requisite number of parking spaces according to town ordinance though some residents complained a new venture would increase noise pollution, as Are We Live? will feature an outdoor dining area.
In the initial plan, Rovito requested a liquor license for the outdoor and indoor areas through at least midnight, though the town’s laws allow businesses to serve liquor until 2 a.m. Residents called the proposed business a nightclub, though Rovito and his legal team insisted it was a lounge, serving snack foods and drinks.
After two public meetings earlier this year, the Burr Ridge Plan Commission had approved the proposal and recommended the village board do the same, despite a “significant number” of public comments according to village administrator Evan Walter.
Walter said most of the opposition was due to the hours of operation. Taking that into consideration, the village board agreed to limit the hours of outdoor area to 11 p.m. and the indoor area to midnight.
Jennifer Fox, a resident who said she owns a condo near the area, opposed the proposal, saying the noise from the shopping center is already bad enough.
“I live there and I have an outdoor patio on the second floor,” she said. “I spend a lot of time out there. I enjoy my outdoor space and last year was the worst of the last nine years I’ve lived here.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, most restaurants in Burr Ridge opened outdoor dining areas — with support from the village — and she said it made her residence unbearable, though she added it wasn’t just the fault of Capri.
“I pay taxes to live here just like everyone else and my concern is the noise,” she said.
She also said about half the people in her condo opposed opening a new bar and, indeed, two lawyers representing a handful of residents each also spoke out against issuing a variance the new establishment.
Mayor Gary Grasso seemed sympathetic to the noise concerns, and he said he’d support limiting every bar and restaurant in town to a midnight closing, while Walter said virtually all establishments with liquor licenses close at midnight anyway.
“We don’t want to be the destination spot in the suburbs,” Grasso said. “OK, Hinsdale closes at midnight so let’s go to Burr Ridge, they’re open ’til two. We don’t want to be known for that.”
The mayor asked the police chief how many noise complaints the department received and the chief said seven, in the year to date, though Fox disputed this and said she called almost every week.
“I don’t mean to call anybody a liar, but I definitely made more calls than you put up on the screen,” she said to the board.
The board agreed Are we Live? should close at midnight as a condition of its variance, though Nicholas Esposito, an attorney for Rovito, protested that if that were the case, other restaurants serving liquor should have to close by midnight as well.
“I think the midnight hour consideration has to be fair across the board, it just has to be,” he said.
Grasso he’s already started talking with village staff about exactly that — a midnight close time for every liquor-serving establishment.
“Maybe we are a village that closes at midnight,” he said. “It seems like we’re closing at midnight anyhow.”
Rovito briefly addressed the board and said he wouldn’t mind closing at midnight.
“If it’s 12 o’clock, I don’t mind,” he said. “I’m a fairly busy person I get in early and I like to go home early.”
Besides the early outdoor closure and the midnight closing requirement for the building itself, Rovito will have to secure egress and ingress to the outdoor area in line with village requirements — meaning the patio area will need to fall in line with other patios in front of businesses that serve liquor.
With most of the other issues settled, the board then debated the ongoing parking issue at the center. At present, the parking lot is at times near capacity. A traffic study presented indicated there is always parking somewhere in the lot and parking varied depending on the time of day, but any potential restaurant that opens at the center would need a parking variance because there are not enough spaces to meet the village’s parking requirements.
Grasso asked the board to add language into the motion to approve the variance that would spur the village to look into a more permanent parking solution as well as a planned unit development for the area.
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“Make a recommendation to direct staff and report back within a reasonable amount of time to us,” he said.
With that, Rovito got his variance and the green light to open in a five to zero vote. Trustee Joseph Snyder was not at Monday’s meeting. Grasso said he was at a charity event, but he said Snyder supported giving Rovito the variance.