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Development welcome — just keep it quiet and local
At least twice residents opposed development deals — one a solid possibility, a QuikTrip bid for a new gas station in the village — and the other rumored potential Costco on the CNH property. That property has been up for grabs since 2022, though the village has not yet publicly entertained any developments on the land.
Still, the QuikTrip development had potential and came with a developer ready to ink a deal. Twice, QuickTrip representatives approached the board with plans — once in the summer and again in the fall — but facing a standing room of public backlash both times, mostly over pollution concerns, overnight truck parking, video gaming and housing valuations the village board rejected both proposals. The effort came about a year after some residents opposed a Thornton’s gas station development in Burr Ridge and while the board did approve that deal, it met with similar, if less, pushback.
But the QuickTrip developers did not give up easily. Developers tried to accommodate some concerns, agreeing to scotch plans for overnight parking, a car wash and video gaming, but residents still wanted no part of what they saw as a truck stop — even if developers agreed to cater their gas sales to regular vehicles.
The CNH property development deal — or, the possibility of a deal — has been on the horizon for those in the village since 2022, when the industrial company announced it was moving out of the village and with it, selling one of the largest single pieces of land in the village.
The land is zoned industrial, meaning it could house some sort of industry, yet homeowners fear something like a CNH-type neighbor — quiet, hidden among trees and generally inconspicuous — will be a tough replacement to find and a Costco warehouse, with its cheap gas, goods and popular appeal, would be a bad fit.
“They’re beautiful neighbors,” one resident said of CNH. “(The workers) come in at seven, they go in and there’s no noise and they leave at five. I’m worried about crime; I’m worried about noise and I’m worried about lights. … My backyard would be a Costco and that would kill my property values.”
Village officials assured residents they had no plans to allow any development to move in — if it could be prevented — that would kill property values or change for the worse the way of life enjoyed in Burr Ridge. The CNH property, Village Administrator Evan Walter noted, is zoned for research assembly, one of the most restrictive zoning uses under the manufacturing umbrella and if a new tenant requested a change to that zoning, they village could reject the proposal.
However, it remains unclear how realistic the Costco proposal was as it was based on a rumor as opposed to any actual proposal sent before the planning board, let alone the village board. Mayor Gary Grasso asked residents in August during the height of the Costco fears what they would like to see in the space, and several residents said they hoped for a golf course.
At that meeting, Grasso pointed out the residents might not get their ideal neighbors, but they could certainly try and anyway, the village would work with all sides.
“It is their property, not our property,” Grasso said of CNH. “We have to consider any proposal brought forward. … If you have ideas for something they might be interested in, then present it to them.”
Since then, the mayor has organized a series of informal public groups to gauge public interest is various possibilities but, as 2023 continues to 2024, no single proposal has emerged and no buyer has yet submitted any proposal to the village.
Crime and festivals return to normal
Festivals, a staple of suburban life, were all back to normal this year, with the village’s flagship Taste of Burr Ridge and its sister affair, the car show, busy and running as smoothly as any time before COVID-19. Since the pandemic first hit in 2020, Burr Ridge, like other villages, struggled to support restaurants with outdoor dining options as well as special accommodations even for outdoor festivals. Any evidence of the pandemic seemed long gone this year, as residents and visitors packed in to the village green for the summer concert series, Deck the Green Christmas event and the food festival and this is in addition to the smaller local festivals like the Taste of Egypt event held every fall.
With normalcy, however, came a slight uptick in residential burglaries as more workers left home and hit the office, leaving their homes exposed once again. In April, Deputy Chief Marc Loftus reported property crime being up slightly from the year prior, though still not as bad as before the pandemic and, he added, some of the crime is preventable by better residential preparedness.
Of the 13 car thefts, he noted 11 were simple crimes of opportunity.
“Every stolen motor vehicle that was stolen was left unlocked with the keys left in it,” Loftus said.
Mayor Gary Grasso seemed surprised.
“Every one,” the mayor asked.
“Every one,” Loftus said.
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“So, it’s very preventable,” the mayor said, adding he’d like a note on the village’s website that residents have to help themselves not be victims of property crime and take basic steps to secure their things.
Loftus also reported an uptick in residential burglaries, but nothing out of line with surrounding communities.
A quiet reelection cycle
In April 2023, three board members from the village board of trustees ran for reelection and all won without fanfare or drama. In recent years past, elections — including that of the mayor — had been marked by lawsuits and bitter allegations by political rivals. However, for the first time in years, local Burr Ridge elections were quiet affairs without controversy.
The next mayoral election will be 2025 and while 2024 is an election year, there aren’t any local offices on the ballot in Burr Ridge.
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.