DuPage County panel backs gas station proposal

A company is poised to get DuPage County Board approval to build a gas station, convenience store and car wash in an unincorporated area between Lombard and Glendale Heights.

The county board's development committee on Tuesday recommended the full board approve Buchanan Energy's application for a conditional-use permit to build a gas station and Bucky's convenience store at the southeast corner of North Avenue and Swift Road. The site is west of I-355.

Four members of the development panel agreed to make the positive recommendation. Only one — Elizabeth “Liz” Chaplin — opposed granting the permit.

The full county board is expected to make a final decision next week.

If its plan is approved, Buchanan will purchase and demolish a two-story building containing Koslow Cycle Inc. The company then will merge that property with a vacant residential lot to the east and two residential lots south of the bike store.

As part of the proposal, the residential properties would be rezoned and two houses on the southern lots would be razed.

The combined land would become the site of a station with 10 gas pumps, a 7,144-square-foot convenience store, a 2,296-square-foot car wash and a diesel aisle. Company officials said the layout is similar to a Bucky's gas station located at the corner of Glen Ellyn Road and North Avenue.

When the county's zoning board of appeals reviewed the project in December, several neighbors voiced opposition, but no neighbors spoke Tuesday.

Still, Chaplin said she couldn't support the conditional-use permit.

She said she's opposed to having a gas station near houses that use well water. She's also concerned about property values.

“I think it's really important that when we approve something we make sure we're not decreasing property values of homeowners in the area,” she said.

The zoning board of appeals, meanwhile, concluded that project won't be injurious to the neighborhood and won't be detrimental to the public welfare.