Will County Gazette

The Village of Woodridge recently held a public hearing for a proposed development on Lemont Road that would include a gas station, car wash, convenience store and quick serve restaurant drive-thrus.

At the Nov. 17 board meeting, Leonard McEnery, who already owns Lenny’s Gas Station at another Woodridge location, is requesting the annexation of the roughly 10 acres at 12S355 and 12S381 Lemont Road. McEnery said the company currently owns and operates 24 locations with eight of the locations bordering residential. They have 700 employees and another 700 that are employed by the tenants in the food industry.

“We have three under construction and six in approval processes right now,” McEnery said at the hearing; “I speak to you with experience, and our development team, as you can see, has many years of experience also. I’m not defending our company, but explaining why I believe it’s a good fit into your village. I chose this location because it seems to be an underserviced area for food and fuel.”

The land in question is surrounded by single-family homes to the north, DuPage forest preserve to the east, and commercial developments to the west, as discussed at the hearing.

Community Development Director Kimberly Clarke provided a brief overview of the project and planned development which is expected to generate over $600,000 per year in estimated revenue for the village. Representatives from the developer were on hand to speak about the project.

Public hearings in October showed an overall negative opinion on the proposal, as well as an unanimous vote against the project by the planning and zoning committee. Since then, the developer has made many changes based on comments. The village board heard from numerous residents who were against the development for a multitude of reasons. 

The board voted to continue the issue and move the vote to the December board meeting.