Elmhurst Aldermen Doubt Engineers' Conclusions

Elmhurst IL

27 July, 2021

9:37 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — The engineer for Roberto's Ristorante, which is proposing two parking lots, says the lots would have little impact on traffic on the residential Eggleston Avenue. Elmhurst's third-party engineer concurred. But aldermen Mark Mulliner and Emily Bastedo cast doubt on the conclusion. Both stressed they were not engineers. But they cited their experience in something else — driving. "I'm not an engineer," Mulliner said during Monday's Development, Planning and Zoning Committee meeting. "I'm a resident who is a person who likes to drive a car around and likes to get there the best way possible... I'm going to take the path of least resistance." He said he was hearing that the parking lots at the Spring Road restaurant wouldn't change traffic. "I don't see that as a logical way of looking at this situation," he said. Under the proposal, the restaurant's lots would be connected to Eggleston. Customers in the parking lot would end up on Eggleston, the aldermen said. Bastedo agreed with Mulliner. "People will have an option to come down Eggleston to get to those two parking lots," she said. "I'm valuing the engineers. I'm also thinking as a person who drives around." The committee's third member, Chairwoman Dannee Polomsky, asked whether the traffic from the parking lots would be detrimental or overly burdensome to the neighborhood. Mulliner responded, "I think that there will be a change in traffic flow. I think it definitely has an impact in that particular neighborhood," adding the city needs to consider safety issues. Earlier in the meeting, Elmhurst City Engineer Kent Johnson said the city's third-party engineer found the parking lots would not diminish Eggleston. "Eggleston won't be too busy that it won't handle the traffic," he said. Neighbors oppose the proposed parking lots because they say traffic, noise and flooding would increase. They also point to code violations behind the restaurant, which the city says have recently been corrected. The city committee is expected to resume its discussion on the restaurant's proposal at its meeting in two weeks. The issue ultimately goes to the full City Council.