Neighbors Fight Elmhurst Restaurant's Parking Lot Plan

ELMHURST, IL — Roberto's Ristorante & Pizzeria may be popular across Elmhurst, but if a public hearing on Tuesday was any indication, not so much among its closest neighbors.

The neighbors got to weigh in on the restaurant's plan to build two parking lots for its business and the next-door office building that it owns.

The hearing got emotional at times, with one resident calling the restaurant "the weirdos" of the neighborhood.

At a meeting last month, representatives of Roberto's told the city's Zoning and Planning Commission that it needed more space for parking to serve customers.

With the new parking lots, they said, fewer diners would fill parking spaces on Spring Road and a nearby public parking lot.

Roberto's is asking the city for conditional use permits for the parking lots for the restaurant, 438 Spring Road, and the office building, 481 Spring Road. The parking lots would be on the north and south sides of Eggleston Avenue.

Last August, a Facebook group called Elmhurst Neighbors United formed in response to the restaurant's proposal. It now has more than 200 members.

Neighbors said the parking lot would increase traffic and flooding and hurt their property values. They also said the restaurant has bought houses on the site of the proposed parking lots, but contended it has done a poor job maintaining them.

For Tuesday's virtual public hearing, the residents had both an engineer and lawyer on hand to help make their case.

Elmhurst resident Molly Novak was one of the many speakers. She said she grew up next to the restaurant and that her parents still live there.

"This proposed commercial use of land is placing the importance of parking over the importance of people. We must not allow this to occur," Novak said. "Cities all over the world are prioritizing people over parking" adding that Elmhurst should be at the "forefront" of this future.

She said her husband urged her to temper her remarks to the commission. She said she did so to an extent, but could not completely hide her feelings.

"I am angry that there could be cars parking mere inches from where my daughter will play in her grandparents' yard," Novak said. "I am angry that there are vacant offices with feral cats living in them behind my parents' house."

Ken Blair, who lives in a town house near the proposed parking lots, said he and his wife, Sara, would be directly affected by the project.

"We don't want it, and we don't buy the applicant's nonsense that the home values and quality of the neighborhood won't be negatively impacted," Blair said.

Blair said they moved into their town house last summer.

"Our neighbors reported a history of poor relationships with the restaurant," he said. "It was evident that the restaurant had not kept the back of their business property up. They have extremely bright lights up behind the building currently. Sara was able to read a book outside our house at night (with the lights)."

Deborah Orth, who has lived near the restaurant for 23 years, said she likes the food at Roberto's and had an open mind about the proposal. But she said at this point, she opposed the parking lots.

Over the last couple of decades, Orth said, traffic at Eggleston Avenue and Spring Road has worsened. And so has flooding, she said.

"The water collects more in my yard and creeps closer to my home every year," Orth said. "Taking residential lots into parking lots is not what a quintessential community is about."

For her support, Roberto's must agree to a detailed water mitigation plan, a traffic study during non-pandemic times, and neighbor-approved landscaping and fencing plans.

Eggleston Avenue resident Grant Dungan called Roberto's "poor neighbors," noting the houses the restaurant has purchased.

"They never shovel their sidewalk. Their driveway, forget about it," Dungan said. "We are a neighborhood where we go to other people's weddings. We watch each other's kids. We have holidays together. We have the keys to each other's houses. We borrow each other's cars. They're the weirdos of the block. We're quite frankly tired of it."

In response, Susan Rose, the commission's chairwoman, said she would not permit name-calling and disparaging remarks.

The hearing ended after 2½ hours, with the commission saying it would resume the proceedings at its March 16 meeting.

The restaurant couldn't be reached for immediate comment Wednesday morning.

In an email to Patch in December, Pasquale Moreci of Roberto's said his family is a longtime corporate resident of the city and sensitive to neighbors' concerns.

"We are very proud of our business and relationship with the Spring Road business district," Moreci said. "We believe that the neighbors are misinformed on some of the facts!"