Residents 'Blindsided' as Construction Begins on Business Park without Village Board Approval

To learn more about how the new development will affect traffic, noise levels, wildlife and property values, click here. 

Construction for a new corporate headquarters and distribution facility for Edward Don & Company, a foodservice equipment distributor, is clearly underway in the northwest corner of Woodward Avenue and I-55.

Residents have watched as about 1,640 trees were torn down and heavy machinery leveled the earth of what was, until quite recently, a field. 

It’s not that the property is being developed that most bothers the residents who live right across the street from what will be an 80-acre business park.

It’s the fact that the land is being developed so quickly into something the land had not been designated for, without their input and without even the approval of the Woodridge village board.

The Woodridge Planning Commission approved the project by a vote of 5-0 Oct. 3. But the village board won't vote on it until Thursday night. 

Developers started clearing land at the risk that the village board would deny the project, according to Village Administrator Kathleen Rush.

The bulldozers raising dust on the property gave the impression to several residents that the project was a done deal and the village board vote would just be a rubberstamp.

“The preliminary clearing of the land is a blatant indication that approval was received regardless of the voice of the people. It is a strong indication that our Village Board, Planning Committee and Mayor are ignorant of the views of the community," wrote resident Rubia Jasinevicius in an e-mail.

"To place a commercial and industrial park is equivocal to placing our neighborhood within a penitentiary -- confined for life with the sight of ugly concrete walls and asphalt yards. A plan that hopes to appease the residents with a retention pond and a scattering of  shrubbery -- adds only further indignation."

Village Trustee Gregory Abbott said he drove past the signs advertising the public hearing at least twice a day, but because of the speed limit, he could never catch when it was.

He said the village should have taken more time before voting on the development and should have increased community involvement.

“I think this is a monumental change for the neighborhood and there needs to be as much public input as possible before moving forward at any level, whether it be plan commission or village board," Abbott said. 

"At this point I don’t think one plan commission meeting where people did not know what was going to be talked about is sufficient."

He suggested an open village board meeting to discuss the issue and hold the vote at a later date.

“You owe the residents that much,” he said.

Attempts for comment from other village board members on the issue were unsuccessful by post time.

From office park to business park 

The land is zoned for general office use, and that's the intention for it as spelled out in Woodridge's Comprehensive Plan, last updated in 2007. The Comprehensive Plan is created in a process that includes community input. 

Bringing in a distribution facility requires the land to be re-zoned for business park use. Edward Don has 35 24-foot trucks, in size similar to school buses or a UPS truck, which can enter and exit the business park at any access point and travel north and southbound on Woodward Avenue. 

These trucks will depart between 3 and 7 a.m. and return between 2 and 6 p.m. 

Semi-trucks will be traveling to and from the distribution facility, as well, about half during the day and half at night. All semi-trucks will enter and exit the business park by its southernmost access point, south of Heritage Parkway. They are not allowed to travel north. 

The development, considered phase one of what will be an 80-acre business park, is set to be completed by July 1. The rest of the business park has no current date of completion, though officials said it could be anywhere from three to 10 years. 

"The village anticipates that over the next 30 years, Edward Don will generate approximately $39 million in sales tax, utility tax and property tax revenue," Senior Planner Emily Rodman wrote in an e-mail. "Of that $39 million, the village anticipates it will rebate Edward Don approximately $10 million, or 25 percent of the revenues generated."

Edward Don’s 450 employees are also potential customers to Woodridge businesses.

While there is a 12 to 14 percent vacancy rate of office space in Woodridge and space is available in Internationale Parkway, Edward Don wanted that parcel of land, according to Village Administrator Kathleen Rush.

Since the property is available, the village couldn’t say no, Rush said. 

Residents feel 'blindsided,' 'steamrolled'

Because of the zoning change, by law, residents were invited to a public hearing about the zoning change and proposed development. For Phil Rogers, the experience was a slap in the face.

Phil Rogers wrote in a letter to Mayor William F. Murphy after returning from the public hearing: “…What did the Plan Commission do? They ignored us. You could almost hear the members rolling their eyes as we talked. And when it was over, “WHAM!” The approved the entire plan, unchanged.

After the meeting, on one side you had a group of angry residents who didn’t know what hit them. On the other, officials from McShane and Edward Don, practically high-fiving each other because they realized they had just steamrolled these yokels with the assistance of a Planning Commission who did everything they wanted.” 

The public hearing took place Oct. 3 at the same Plan Commission meeting where the plan was approved 5-0.

Eleven residents voiced their concerns of the plan. Several said they approved of development of the land and voiced their support of Edward Don. They said it was just the wrong area for their corporate headquarters to be built.

Concerns ranged from decreased property values, traffic, noise and light pollution from the warehouse and wildlife who called the area home.

Resident Steve Schultz told the Planning Commission his home is right off of Woodward Avenue.

“When I sit there and eat my dinner at night, my house already vibrates from all the trucks, and with more truck traffic, more car traffic, it’s just going to be more of a pain in the neck..."

The developers presented their findings for how the development would affect home prices, traffic and the nearby business community.

The current agenda for Thursday’s meeting shows a vote on the development and the economic incentive plan for Edward Don before questions from the public.

However, Rush said members of the public would be able to speak at the meeting before village board members voted.