Burr Ridge Man Leaving After Village Denied Home Expansion: Lawyer

BURR RIDGE, IL – A Burr Ridge resident plans to move away now that the village has rejected a request to expand his house, his attorney indicated.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, the lawyer for Ravinder Sethi, who lives in the 600 block of Ambriance Drive, said he wanted to stay in Burr Ridge.

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But attorney Sarah Reusche said if the village rejected Sethi's request, he had no way to expand and stay in town.

"That's ultimately my message to you tonight," she said.

Twice, the village's Plan Commission recommended against Sethi's request.

Originally, Sethi asked to expand his house to cover a quarter of his property. The village code only lets a homeowner go up to 20 percent.

After the commission's first rejection, the Village Board heard the request and sent the matter back to the commission at the lawyer's request.

Sethi then reduced his request to 23 percent of the property.

But the commission ruled that it saw no hardship that would call for making an exception to the village code.

At the Village Board's March meeting, trustees expressed frustration that Sethi started work on the project without getting a building permit and then ignored a stop-work order.

Trustee Guy Franzese said at the time that the violations bothered him "tremendously."

"It's like the rules are being ignored," he said. "You're telling the staff what they want to hear, and on the other hand, you're doing what you please."

With no discussion, the board voted unanimously on Monday to deny Sethi's request.