Ricky Rockets gas station, car wash project gets thumbs-up from Elgin plan commission

A Ricky Rockets gas station and a car wash has been proposed for a Route 20 site previously annexed into Elgin for a never-built Thorntons gas station.

The project was reviewed by the Elgin Planning and Zoning Commission this week and recommended for Elgin City Council approval with a 4-0 vote.

Elgin council members approved annexation of the 8.3-acre property at the northeast corner of Route 20 and Lamber Lane in 2023 along with plans for the Thorntons, which ultimately did not proceed. Because zoning approval for that project expired, HPI Management Inc. and property owner Bluestone Single Tenant Properties need to seek new authorization, Senior Planner Damir Latinovic said.

The new proposal calls for construction of a Ricky Rockets that would have 20 regular fuel stations and four diesel fuel stations on the southern portion of the property. There will be right-in-only access from Route 20 and full access from Lambert Lane.

“This new fuel center is generally very similar to the previously approved Thorntons gas station,” Latinovic said.

What is different is the size of the convenience store and the addition of a car wash, he said.

The 6,814-square-foot convenience store would be open 24 hours a day, sell packaged liquor and food and offer 10 video gaming machines.

Drew Zazofsky, Bluestone’s director of development, said they were involved in the initial Thorntons project and purchased the property only after it received city approval for the Thorntons.

“We worked pretty hard on those approvals on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “We were about ready to pull a permit when we learned Thorntons decided not to build the unit, which was disappointing to us, to say the least. It was a difficult decision for them to forgo building the unit.”

Since then, Bluestone has been working hard “to bring in another high-quality user. We think that user is Ricky Rockets,” Zazofsky said.

Some Oak Ridge subdivision residents told the commission they’re opposed to the project as proposed.

“We are here to formally request you deny the request for the expansion (of the convenience store) and deny the car wash addition,” said Jessica Astrug, who spoke at Monday’s meeting on behalf of 200 neighbors.

Residents don’t want the commission to deny the entire proposal, Astrug said, but they want the developer to be held to the baseline zoning requirements.

Exceptions to zoning should be made only when a developer shows there is a hardship and “not to grant commercial entities extra profitability at the expense of taxpayers,” she said.

Astrug also noted that the intersection remains dangerous. With the Oak Ridge subdivision having only two points to enter and exit, “we have no backroads or alternative routes. Every single resident is forced into this bottleneck,” she said.

“Every single week as we try to leave our neighborhood, we see cars and heavy trucks blow right through the red light because they are going too fast to stop.”

Route 20 falls under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department of Transportation, which is requiring the developer to improve and modernize the intersection with crosswalks, pedestrian signal poles, ADA improvements and an additional left turn signal onto Lambert Lane from Route 20, according to city documents.

The agency wanted the additional signal to make the intersection safer, Zazofsky said. “We worked with IDOT and the city to identify those significant safety upgrades to the intersection. None of that has changed,” he said.

The developer is spending between $500,000 and $750,000 on the improvements, he said.

Developers also need several amendments to the original annexation agreement, including a conditional use permit. The developer is seeking several variances, including installation of a higher fence and an additional wall sign.

As part of the application process, the developer provided updated traffic information, which indicates the daily traffic count on Route 20 in 2025 was 37,900 vehicles daily and that Ricky Rockets won’t generate additional traffic because about 60% would be diverted from existing cars on the roadways.

The car wash won’t generate more traffic as it will be used by people already there buying gas or food, Zazofsky said.

Elgin City Council members will review the project at a future date.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.