Carol Stream trustees: Gas station, restaurants won't affect neighbors
An old bowling alley that has declined into an eyesore will face the wrecking ball by Labor Day now that Carol Stream trustees have approved plans to redevelop the site into a gas station, convenience store and restaurants catering to truck drivers.
The village board on Monday unanimously approved the roughly $9 million project by Bluestone Single Tenant Properties to raze the former Brunswick Zone and build a Pilot Travel Center on the southwest corner of North and Gary avenues. Trustee Greg Schwarze was absent from the meeting.
Many on the board rejected claims from neighbors that the Pilot would worsen noise and traffic.
Most of the nearly dozen opponents who spoke out against the plans said the “truck stop” is the wrong neighbor for their upscale retirement community, Windsor Park, the site's western neighbor.
Trustee John LaRocca said the Pilot won't add but will capture existing traffic in an already “congested” area.
“I don't necessarily agree with this is going to be a detriment to your living quarters at all,” LaRocca told Windsor Park residents. “I don't think we live in a dome. I don't think the fumes are going to be hovering over your retirement community.”
Developers have bristled at the “truck stop” label, saying the Pilot is geared toward the truck drivers who start and end their day at home.
“I don't see this as being a typical truck stop,” said LaRocca, prompting snickers from residents opposing the plans.
In granting the special-use permit, the village also will impose a number of conditions that prohibit the traditional amenities of a truck stop, including video gambling, showers and laundry facilities.
The gas pumps for semitrailer trucks and passenger cars, as well as a 9,000-square-foot-building, would be open 24 hours a day. The building would house a convenience store and three “fast causal” restaurants: a Moe's Southwest Grill, Cinnabon bakery and PJ Fresh Marketplace.
Sales from the three, the convenience store and gas would generate roughly $264,600 in estimated tax revenues to the village annually.
Trustees also were skeptical that the Pilot would hurt business at its other neighbor, the Holiday Inn.
“Truck stops are loud. People go to hotels to get a good night's rest,” the hotel's attorney, Greg Jones, told the board Monday. “If they don't get a good night's rest, they will take their business elsewhere.”
Trustee Mary Frusolone, however, said hotels generally favor high-traffic areas.
“I would venture to guess that Holiday Inn has many locations across the country that are right next to trucks stops and along interstate highways for that exact reason, because they want to capture as much business as they can,” she said.
While she applauded Bluestone for drawing up “aesthetically pleasing” designs, Frusolone urged them to “mend fences” with their neighbors and to reach out to the Holiday Inn to address noise.
In response to their complaints, Bluestone plans to construct a wall on the Pilot site's southern border with the hotel to block noise.
Trustee David Hennessey noted the troubled history of the site, vacant for about four years after the bowling alley closed and the 12-acre property fell into foreclosure. A firm that buys such distressed properties owns it and has said it suffers from vandalism and illegal dumping.
“I don't know what sort of development you could put there that would have been met with open arms,” he said.
Village President Frank Saverino called it a “terrible eyesore.”
“There's no question about it,” he said.