Controversial Carol Stream gas station a step closer to reality

The developers of a Carol Stream retirement community have reserved about 20 acres of land ripe for an expansion of Windsor Park.

But an attorney for Covenant Retirement Communities says a controversial plan — one that neighbors and businesses fear would worsen traffic and noise on North Avenue — would have a “chilling effect” on future development at Windsor Park.

Covenant purchased the vacant land where the retirement community could expand east.

“That's all going to be much closer to the truck stops and that noise,” said attorney Jason Lundy of the proposed Pilot Travel Center, where a gas station, convenience store and three restaurants would be open round-the-clock.

Dozens of Windsor Park residents arrived by shuttle bus and packed a plan commission meeting Monday, solidly against the project.

“I'm underwhelmed,” said Betsy Sentowski, who lives at Windsor Park. “We already have two gas stations at that intersection.”

Plan commissioners disagreed, recommending in a nonbinding decision that the village board approve a special-use permit and plans for a sprawling Pilot Travel Center on the southwest corner of Gary and North avenues. Trustees will review the proposal by Bluestone Single Tenant Properties as early as next week.

Though opponents call it a truck stop, Bluestone says the Pilot would cater to “day-trippers” making regional stops. The plan calls for gas pumps for both semi trailers and passenger cars and a 9,000 square-foot building with a convenience store and three “fast casual” restaurants.

The current property owner fears the site will continue to remain stagnant if the village board rejected the project.

Beltway Capital bought the foreclosed property in 2011 after Brunswick Zone closed. The deteriorating bowling alley has drawn vandals, dumping and little interest from retailers and restaurateurs, Beltway Senior Vice President Robert Litter wrote in a July 9 letter urging the village board to approve the proposed development.

Beltway did not vet inquiries from industrial and “adult entertainment” developers, among others, knowing that the village board would likely object to such businesses, Litter wrote.

The Pilot Travel Center, however, is “thoughtfully designed” and would generate roughly $264,600 in annual sales tax revenues to the village.

Bluestone representatives on Monday told the plan commission they've made several changes to the layout in response to neighbors' concerns about noise.

Thomas Thunder, an acoustics engineer hired by Bluestone, first did a study of ambient noise late last month after rush hour, rescheduled after inclement weather the day before. After neighbors complained the study failed to take in account the loudest hours, Thunder did another analysis by putting recording devices on the site's southern border and on the eastern edge of Windsor Park for 24 hours. Pilot also sent a tanker to mimic the noise from an idling engine and a truck circling the site.

Thunder concluded there would be a “negligent impact” on Windsor Park residents, given the existing noise from traffic on North Avenue and the distance sound would travel. About 1,100 feet separates the retirement community's eastern side and the proposed development.

“This is a noisy, noisy location,” Thunder told the plan commission Monday.

Developers now plan to follow Thunder's recommendation that a wall — a 7-foot-tall landscaped berm with an 8-foot-tall solid wall on top — be built between the Holiday Inn and the site in order to block noise. And they have scrapped a truck scale from the project, allowing more room for trees and other landscaping to buffer noise.

Noise experts hired by the Holiday Inn refuted Thunder's claims, saying the wall would shield only the hotel's lower floors.

“I did not feel it fit into our community,” said plan Commissioner Dee Spink, the lone dissenter on a vote — one in a series Monday — endorsing the design plans, adding that the village has worked hard to make North Avenue a gateway.

While he acknowledged sales tax dollars are attractive, Greg Jones, an attorney for the hotel, said zoning decisions shouldn't be based on that revenue.

“At the end of the day, it's a truck stop in the heart of the village's commercial corridor and its gateway,” Jones said.