Safety May Trump Burr Ridge Gate Disdain

BURR RIDGE, IL – A couple who lives on County Line Road in Burr Ridge wants a gate on their driveway to serve as a layer of protection for their children.

But the request conflicts with the village's general opposition to gates.

Over the years, the village has loosened its policy on allowing gates on driveways. At one time, it was reserved for those with 10-acre lots, then for 5 acres and now for 2 acres.

Rey and Haley Zaffar, who moved to the 6300 block of County Line Road earlier this year, asked for exceptions to Burr Ridge's zoning code – a gate on a property that is little over an acre and one that is higher than the village's maximum of 6 feet.

Last month, the village's Plan Commission recommended the Village Board reject the requests.

Other driveway gates are at houses on County Line Road, but officials said the lots are bigger or the gates were erected before the village was incorporated.

The Zaffars have highlighted the nearby gates.

"The safety and security of our children and our property are the driving force behind this message, and frankly, we did not imagine having to petition our neighbors in this effort – it seems like common sense," the Zaffars said in a letter to the village.

Of the homes on County Line Road north of Interstate 55, they said, eight have driveway gates, while two, including theirs, do not.

At the meeting, Rey Zaffar said the gate would fit into the character of the neighborhood.

"Everyone in the subdivision wants us to do this," he said. "It seems like this is an obvious thing. Everyone else has one. Why can't we?"

Trustee Guy Franzese said if the village agreed to driveway gates on lots as small as the Zaffars' 1.2 acres, then the village would have a proliferation of them in town.

Trustee Russell Smith said the couple's lawyer should have advised them about the restrictions before they bought the house.

"You are asking so much from what our village guidelines are," he said.

Mayor Gary Grasso took a more nuanced view.

"There was a time in the village when we wanted to discourage gates. We didn't want to have that image in the village," the mayor said. "Now, people are more concerned with security and crime."

The board unanimously voted to send the issue back to the Plan Commission, with a request that it reconsider the village's regulations on gates. At the same time, the trustees approved the Zaffars' request for a front yard deck.