Firm Accuses Burr Ridge Official Of 'Strange' Argument

BURR RIDGE, IL – A representative of a telecommunications company clashed with the head of a Burr Ridge panel last month in his request for wireless antennas that neighbors opposed.

The representative, Drew McGrew, made some of the same arguments at Monday's Village Board meeting. But he was denied again.

McGrew's firm works on behalf of AT&T. The Fortune 500 company wanted to install antennas on a parking garage at 510 Village Center Drive.

AT&T has tried since 2022 to get the equipment there, but has withdrawn its proposals previously in the face of opposition.

The company said the antennas would improve coverage for phones in the area of the Village Center.

"The antennas are inside the building. They're not outside," he said. "You can't see them at all."

The head of a homeowners association that represents 59 members opposed the request.

The Plan Commission, which unanimously rejected the proposal last month, expressed concern about the number of questions and issues that remained unanswered.

During last month's hearing, the commission's chairman, Greg Trzupek, told McGrew that he had mapped out the homes of the seven commissioners, according to meeting minutes. And six of them did not live in the coverage area that AT&T was looking to enhance, he said, while one lived at the edge.

At the hearing, McGrew questioned the commissioners' qualifications to evaluate coverage areas, saying that was the job of professional engineers.

During Monday's Village Board meeting, McGrew said Trzupek's argument was "one of the strangest" he had heard.

"The village is here to serve the public, not the Plan Commission members," McGrew said. "The fact that the plan commissioners don't happen to live in that area really has nothing to do with the application whatsoever."

As for the homeowners association, the letter from the head of the group doesn't mean all 59 members agreed.

Trzupek's assertion otherwise, McGrew said, was "obviously not true."

During the Plan Commission hearing, Commissioner Mike Stratis said McGrew made it feel as if the village were responding to someone who may ultimately sue.

Before the hearing's end, McGrew said he believed that he may have changed some commissioners' minds, but not Trzupek's.

It turns out no minds were changed. The vote was unanimous against AT&T.

At Monday's board meeting, McGrew spoke for 10 minutes.

Then, without any discussion, the board voted unanimously against the request.