Burr Ridge Eateries Pull Outdoor Dining Tent Requests

BURR RIDGE, IL – Two Burr Ridge restaurants have withdrawn their requests to the village for outdoor dining enclosures in the winter.

A year ago, Jonny Cab's and Capri Express restaurants, both in County Line Square, asked for the village's permission to set up enclosures year-round.

Under the village's current rules, restaurants can seek a special use permit to have such enclosures. But the city's ordinance gives no specific guidance on what types of enclosures should get greenlighted.

"It intentionally leaves it open and vague," Village Administrator Evan Walter said at this week's Village Board meeting.

This year, the Plan Commission proposed 10 amendments to the requirements for enclosures.

"The (Village Board) essentially said almost unanimously these don't work for some reason or another," Walter said. "There were discussions of cost, quality, appropriateness in the first place."

He said the village could simply decide on enclosure requests case by case.

In Burr Ridge, the outdoor dining season is March 1 to Nov. 1 under the village's ordinance. But Trustee Guy Franzese said restaurants keep their outdoor dining equipment outside during the winter.

"It's going to be 25 degrees tonight," Franzese said. "I'm not going to go outside and eat dinner, so we're done with outdoor dining for the year."

He requested the village's staff to ask the restaurants to store their equipment inside as soon as possible to comply with the local ordinance.

"In past years, they have gone on and on, and they've been stored out there all winter," he said. "The outdoor furniture, when it's covered with snow or debris or whatever, it's tacky looking, and we need to clean it up."