Confusion Over Burr Ridge Incident Continues

Burr Ridge IL

27 August, 2021

3:21 PM

Description

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge police said Friday they are still investigating an incident that took place three weeks ago at County Line Square. At a Village Board meeting Aug. 9, Trustee Guy Franzese asked the board to delay a request for an awning at Capri Express in County Line Square because he wanted a report on the incident, which he said occurred the previous week. He said the incident involved Capri Express and an unidentified business. However, Trustee Russell Smith said in an interview with Patch this week that officials have since learned Capri Express had no involvement. Franzese has not returned messages for comment. Restaurant co-owner Phil Salamone said earlier this month he had no knowledge of what Franzese could have been talking about. At the Aug. 9 meeting, the board agreed to Franzese's request for a delay. At its meeting Monday, the board rejected the request for an awning based on the allegation that the restaurant's delivery drivers were using the fire lane. Trustees said they would revisit the issue again in October. The incident in question may have happened about noon Aug. 5. In messages to Patch on that day, former Trustee Zach Mottl said he brought a complaint to Village Hall alleging renovations for the planned Are We Live lounge at County Line Square were extending into space next door. He suggested that was a violation of the Village Board's approval of the lounge. He later went to County Line Square to show village officials what he was talking about. By Mottl's account, his visit there involved Filippo "Gigi" Rovito, owner of Are We Live and Capri Ristorante, which is in the same shopping center. Also, there were at least one police officer and interim Village Administrator Evan Walter, Mottl said. Asked after the Aug. 9 board meeting whether Capri Express was involved, Mottl said it was not. Mottl and Mayor Gary Grasso are political rivals. Grasso-endorsed candidates ousted Mottl from the board in the April election. Grasso has close ties to Rovito. Capri Express was among the opponents of Are We Live in the zoning process.