Residents oppose plans for 24-hour gas station in Arlington Heights

A proposal to make an Arlington Heights gas station a 24-hour operation is meeting opposition from neighbors and village trustees.

Franchisee Steven Chacko wants to convert the existing Marathon gas station at 1706 W. Northwest Hwy. into a BP, which would be open all day.

He says his agreement with BP requires it, though village officials this week expressed skepticism and said they wouldn't be bound by those terms.

"I'm not comfortable with 24 hours right next door to all those homes," Trustee Jim Tinaglia said at a village board meeting. "I want you to have a business. I want you to do well. I'm sure your neighbors would love to see an operating gas station there that's clean and neat and contributing. But it's kind of hard to imagine 24 hours there."

Residents who live nearby submitted a petition to the village last week opposing 24-hour operation.

Chacko is requesting a special use permit that would allow the gas station's convenience store to be expanded within the 1,300-square-foot building now occupied by an auto repair shop. The project also proposes upgrades to the building facade, the addition of landscaping, and a 6-foot fence to screen the 13,500-square-foot site from the residential neighborhood to the north.

Chacko said he's spending $250,000 on improvements.

Village officials say there are 10 other gas stations located next to single-family homes in town, but only two of them operate 24 hours.

A "reasonable" range of hours would be 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight, said Charles Witherington-Perkins, the village's director of planning and community development.

Village attorneys say they plan to look at the BP franchisee agreement if Chacko provides it. The board could take up the matter again as early as Nov. 21.