Gas Station, Restaurant Proposal Rejected By Oswego Planning Commission

OSWEGO, IL — The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted to reject a proposal for a new gas station, quick-service restaurant and drive-thru coffee shop at Plainfield Road and Woolley Road.

The petitioner, Parth Patel, requested approval of a preliminary and final planned unit development and plat to develop a gas station at the northern corner of the intersection. The vacant 3.47-acre property is zoned B-1 Regional Business District, pending development.

Commissioners approved a motion to recommend the Village Board not accept the proposal after a public hearing at the Aug. 7 meeting.

Patel proposed to construct a gas station and a 7,000-square-foot, single-story building to house the convenience store, quick-service restaurant, a drive-thru coffee shop, and video gaming area. All are allowed within the zoning rules, and while a special use permit is typically required for video gaming use, it would not be necessary here since it would occupy less than 25 percent of the gross floor area, according to a staff report from Assistant Development Services Director Rachel Riemenschneider.

Commission Chair Charlie Pajor said he has concerns about the traffic circulation within the site itself.

"It just seems like an awful lot of conflicting, intense uses," he said. "If it were just a gas station with the usual convenience store, that's one thing, but when you put the quick-serve restaurant in and the Scooter's drive-thru, you've got a lot of different people going a lot of different ways for short periods of time, for long periods of time."

Residents and nearby business owners expressed concerns about the gas station's impact on Woolley Road traffic and its proximity to neighborhoods, schools and Prairie Point Community Park.

"[These are] places that should be protected as safe, healthy and community-centered spaces," a resident said. "I believe there's already enough gas stations in the vicinity," one resident said, adding, "There's many more suitable locations for this kind of development, ones that do not put kids, green spaces and neighborhood character at risk."

One commissioner also cited concerns with how close the drive-thru's escape lane is to a detention pond, and another shared concerns over potential increased noise, to which the applicant said the plan would be to add trees.

"I just have such major concerns with the infrastructure with Woolley Road and ... the amount of school buses that are in and out of that road, the Traughber [Junior High School] traffic, the Oswego High School traffic," another commissioner shared. "I'm trying to comprehend how it's all going to work with all that traffic flow that's already there. ... My fear is that we are going to see some catastrophic accidents by having this gas station at that corner and by adding a monument sign there that's going to potentially decrease some visibility of people walking, trying to cross that intersection there."

Pajor emphasized that if this project doesn't work out, a different commercial business will move in, given the current zoning.

The most recent legislative action taken on the site was on Sept. 19, 2023, when the Village Board approved a concept plan for a gas station and quick service restaurant at the site, documents show. The current proposed use and site plan are generally the same as the concept from two years ago.