Sonic's closing time stays put in Aurora

Aurora's Sonic will remain one of the chain's 3,500 locations not open till midnight or later as their ads claim.

With an 8-4 vote that likely cost the city its chance to bring in a second Sonic, aldermen denied the chain's request for the location at Kirk and Butterfield roads to extend their open hours by one, until midnight.

By staying open just an hour later each night - until midnight - Sonic officials believe their Aurora restaurant could generate $3,000 in additional tax revenue for the city.

Kirkland Farm Homeowners Association member Michael Popela told board members that added revenue was not worth the disruption he believed the restaurant's late-night patrons caused in his adjacent community.

"With the current 11 p.m. close, cars and motorcycles leave at times with revving engines and blasting stereos," he said. "There have been racing cars up and down Mesa Lane and people parking their cars in the Walmart parking lot and partying throughout the night."

When the Sonic at Kirk and Butterfield roads opened in August 2008, it did so with the stipulation it close at 11 p.m.

A year later, franchisee Mark Kinnare says he's feeling the heat from corporate officials to live up to the chain's recent marketing campaign that promotes hours of operation from 6 a.m. to midnight or later.

"The communication has been, 'We are spending a lot of money on national advertising promoting the fact that we're open till midnight or later at all of our locations, and you're one of the few that's not,'" Kinnare said. "We're getting a lot of complaints from customers asking why we're not open until midnight and what we're doing about it."

Fifth Ward Alderman John "Whitey" Peters said he believed Sonic was trying to be a good neighbor and business partner, but he voted against the extended hour.

"We made a deal. It was 11 p.m. That was the condition, and we can't say, 'Whoops, do-over,'" Peters said. "That was what we agreed upon, and that's what I want to stick to, at least until this point because that's what the residents expect us to do."

Third Ward Alderman Stephanie Kifowit asked Kinnare how the "no vote" would affect the potential Sonic planned for the east side.

"Our partnership group of owners is looking at other locations in this area, and some are in Aurora and some are in Naperville," he said. "Is it going to help if you vote no? No, it's not. Could it conceivably hurt if you vote no? It could. We are negotiating very hard for some locations along Route 59 and some are in the Naperville side and some are in the Aurora side."

Popela and his neighbors aren't particularly worried about Sonic's corporate future in city, especially if it perpetuates the noise, fried food smells and loitering they have already complained about.

Kinnare said noise and odor tests paid for by Sonic have shown the noise pollution comes from Kirk Road, and smell complaints are unfounded because of a high-efficiency hood system the city required when the restaurant was built.