CARPENTERSVILLE – You want economic development, you've got it.
The Carpentersville Village Board threw its support behind plans to build a new Village Pizza and Pub just north of its previous location at 117 N. Kennedy Drive despite concerns expressed by nearly a dozen residents at public hearings Monday night.
"One of the things we hear over and over again is we need to have more economic development in the village," Village President Ed Ritter said.
A new 7,149-square-foot Village Pizza at 145 N. Kennedy Drive would bring the village both property and sales tax revenue, as well as economic growth in an area Ritter said "everyone can agree needs it."
"Our village has to move forward, and one of the things we say over and over again is we need to improve Route 25. And if we don't improve Route 25, we don't move forward."
The plans discussed at the public hearings involve the village vacating a small, triangular piece of land, bounded by roadway at Chippewa Circle and Hopi Lane, and selling that land to Village Pizza owner Michael Sarillo to use as parking for the new restaurant. One hearing discussed vacating the property; the other, determining it surplus and for sale.
Residents argued neighborhood children cut through the triangle to walk to a nearby 7-Eleven and often play soccer on the village property, which is considered a park. Two even offered to buy the land from the village to keep it a park, offering as much as $25,000.
"It's the most used park that I've seen in the area. It's not a surplus," said nearby property owner John Przybylo of Arlington Heights. "Every day there are kids out there playing soccer. It's the No. 1 thing in the neighborhood."
Przybylo said he owns and rents a house adjacent to the triangle, and already those tenants have broken their lease and moved out over safety concerns for their 7-year-old child because of the construction for the new Village Pizza.
Village Trustee Judy Sigwalt said she also lived in that neighborhood for 23 years and drove to Village Pizza every Friday night. She said she was alarmed children would be playing in that triangle because of the danger posed by the streets surrounding it.
"To me, that triangle is one very dangerous triangle," Sigwalt said. "For soccer, that triangle is not very big, and the park district does offer soccer fields for the kids, and that's within walking distance."
Village Trustee Pat Schultz added she also grew up in the neighborhood and "understood the pain of losing the park." But she said she thought many more village residents would be upset over losing Village Pizza.
The restaurant closed last month after Sarillo failed to negotiate a new lease with the owner of the building where Village Pizza has stood for more than 30 years. The restaurant opened a second location in 2007 at 2496 N. Randall Road in Elgin.
Plans for the new Village Pizza include tearing down three houses nearby that are owned by Sarillo, according to Ritter, and rezoning the area from residential to commercial. Traffic at Hopi Lane and Chippewa Circle also would have to be rerouted around the parking lot, the village president said.
They also include a planned unit development that allows a shingle roof and rough-sawn wood for a log cabin-style building, as well as other, mostly cosmetic variances to the village code. That PUD unanimously was approved later at Monday night's village board meeting.
The village board tabled eight other measures relating to the new Village Pizza until its next meeting Nov. 17. That includes ordinances authorizing the sale of the village park property, vacating the portions of Chippewa Circle adjacent to that property and changing the zoning of the property at Chippewa Circle and Hopi Lane from residential to commercial.
"There are just some details before we can adopt these other measures," Ritter said.