Unusual Burr Ridge Deal: State Won't Investigate

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge's Capri Ristorante is the only business in the suburbs that gets free use of a Pace bus agency parking lot, government records show. It received the right for a decade, starting in 2015.

Late last year, former village Trustee Zach Mottl filed a complaint about the arrangement with the state's inspector general.

One of the arguments is that the deal is unconstitutional. The Illinois constitution states, "Public funds, property or credit shall be used only for public purposes."

In a letter this week, Executive Inspector General Susan Haling informed Mottl that her agency reviewed his complaint and that it was more appropriate for his allegations to be addressed by Pace itself. She said the complaint has been referred to Pace, a public entity.

In the last few years, Capri Ristorante, 324 Burr Ridge Parkway, has cited the 2015 agreement with Pace in zoning matters before the village government, showing that it has enough space for customers' cars. The restaurant's valet service parks cars in the nearby Pace lot.

The agreement came up last summer in the debate over whether the village should allow Capri's owner, Filippo "Gigi" Rovito, to open the Are We Live lounge in County Line Square, where Capri is.

An attorney representing opponents of the lounge, which was later approved, questioned the Pace agreement. The pact lasts for a decade and can be revoked by either party.

In a public records request last year, Patch asked for three examples of agreements granting private businesses free use of Pace parking lots. At one point, Pace's senior attorney, Christopher Lyons, suggested in an email that the request was "over broad" or "unduly burdensome." But he finally answered the request.

Lyons produced two agreements from the past few years — one with a nonprofit organization and the other with a machinery company. Both were for one day's use, nowhere near the 10 years under Capri's agreement.

The third was a shared land use agreement in 2001 with the city of Aurora and the former Walter Payton's Roundhouse. It appeared to be the result of a parking lot dispute among the parties.

None of the agreements resembled what Capri got — a nonexclusive license for free use of a Pace park-n-ride facility. The parking is between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. at Lincolnshire and McClintock drives.

The agreements granting one-day use are four pages long, while the one with Capri Ristorante is just one. The one-day contracts require the users to present certificates of insurance. No such mandate is in the 10-year agreement.

Capri's agreement is more informal, beginning with "Dear Mr. Rovito." It was signed by Pace's executive director, Thomas "T.J." Ross, who retired in 2018.

The other signatory is listed as "president," but the signature is blacked out, which is often done to protect people's personally identifying information. Both Patch and Neal Smith, the neighbors' attorney, requested the signatory's identity, which is likely Rovito. But Pace has declined to reveal the information.

In an interview last year, Pace spokeswoman Maggie Daly Skogsbakken said the agreement with Capri "originated with the village of Burr Ridge."

"I'm assuming the contract is more for our protection if there is any liability, if anything could get damaged or stolen," she said at the time. "Pace has worked with communities on various requests before and, when we can, we work with communities to help as needed. Community requests are handled on a case-by-case basis."

She said she wouldn't call the type of agreement common, but that it wasn't unusual for one governmental body to assist another.

She did not say who in the Burr Ridge government helped Rovito get the agreement. Burr Ridge is not a party to the deal. It appears the document was signed without the Pace board's approval.

Daly and Haling, the inspector general, could not be reached for immediate comment Thursday. Rovito has not returned Patch's calls about a number of issues over the last year.