Bolingbrook Approves Special Use Permit For DuPage Township Food Pantry Project

BOLINGBROOK, IL — Plans for the DuPage Township food pantry and resource center can move forward after the Bolingbrook Village Board approved a special use permit for the planned development at its Tuesday meeting.

The approval comes after several years of planning and submittals, and a lawsuit from the Township.

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Village Trustee Mike Lawler, who was presiding over Tuesday's meeting, said the Township had submitted revised documents, which addressed most of the project concerns previously identified.

Approved variances for the project include reducing the foundation planting bed size, removing more than 50 percent of the trees on-site and reducing the overall number of parking stalls from 54 to 51, according to the Board agenda.

The Township had filed a lawsuit in May against the Village over the food pantry plans. According to the Circuit Court website, the next court date is set for Jan. 6 for "case management."

In May, the Township said it had filed the lawsuit after two years of proposing plans for a new resource center and food pantry.

The lawsuit was filed after multiple denials of the project; most recently in February 2025. The Bolingbrook Village Board denied a motion for the application of a special use permit for a planned development with variances and concept plan for the DuPage Township resource center and food pantry at its Feb. 25 meeting.

In its written conclusion on the matter, the Village's Plan Commission had stated that the central issue "is not whether a food pantry and resource center are reasonable land uses," but "whether this proposed planned development at this desired location would be in the public interest."

Plans for the project have also appeared in front of the Village Board in 2024. In January 2024, the Bolingbrook Village Board sent a proposal for the food pantry back to its plan commission, with the Village Attorney saying the proposal was incomplete and disjointed.

DuPage Township's plans call for a resource center and food pantry at the northeast corner of Canterbury and Lily Cache lanes. In November 2024, DuPage Township asked its voters about the project, and if it should replace its current Romeoville pantry with a consolidated facility in Bolingbrook. The referendum was successful with over 27,000 "yes" votes.

With Tuesday's approval of a special use permit, the project can now move forward.