Sarpino's rethinking its move to Prospect Hts.

A national pizza chain is rethinking a planned move to Prospect Heights after the city council imposed restrictions on how it can conduct its business.

Lincolnshire-based Sarpino's USA wants to build a new two-story office headquarters and carryout pizzeria restaurant on the site of a long-vacant auto repair shop at Elmhurst and Palatine roads.

In exchange for granting zoning variances, the city council is requiring Sarpino's to close by 1 a.m. nightly and would prohibit truck deliveries before 7 a.m. The site is located adjacent to a residential area.

Also, trucks making deliveries would be prohibited from idling with their engines on.

Sarpino's is opposed to the restrictions, and company President Dmitry Shapiro now says he and other shareholders may look to relocate elsewhere.

Shapiro and lawyer Bruce Entman brought their objections to Monday night's city council meeting, but spoke only after aldermen passed the ordinance 4-0. Mayor Dolly Vole said she had mistakenly called for a vote before realizing Shapiro and Entman were in the audience.

Vole said Sarpino's representatives originally said the pizzeria would close at 1 a.m., and that it wasn't until the zoning board of appeals hearing that they suggested otherwise.

Shapiro disputes that, saying Sarpino's never wanted restrictions on its hours. He said he wants the pizzeria to be open until at least 2 or 3 a.m. in order to make late-night deliveries.

"This is not a college town," Alderman Richard Hamen protested Monday, saying he doubts anyone in the area will order pizzas at 4 a.m.

Shapiro disagreed, saying Sarpino's could do a lot of business after 1 a.m., delivering to hotels and places outside Prospect Heights.

"They don't know how a pizza delivery business works and I don't think it's my place to teach them how it works," Shapiro said Tuesday.

Trucks from food and beverage service companies would make four deliveries to the pizzeria a week. Sarpino's will post signs telling drivers to shut off their trucks, but Shapiro said it's wrong that he might get the blame if they don't.

"If they're my employees, I can control what they do," Shapiro said. "I don't have any jurisdiction on another company's employees."

Vole said the city has placed restrictions on other developments, and that not asking someone to do something is trying to avoid taking responsibility.

Shapiro said the store could generate as much as $1.2 million a year. That would provide $15,000 in sales tax.