The 1999 Village of Burr Ridge Comprehensive Plan presents land use and development policies for the incorporated portions of Burr

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................... v

1...... INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1

3...... OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 5

3.1 Existing Land Use ....................................................................................................... 5

3.3 Economic Base........................................................................................................... 14

4...... LAND USE PLAN ............................................................................................................. 16

4.1... Residential Development ........................................................................................... 16

4.3... Open Space ................................................................................................................ 19

4.4... New Growth Areas .................................................................................................... 21

5...... SUBAREA PLANS ............................................................................................................ 22

6... COMMUNITY DESIGN........................................................................................................ 31

6.1... Subdivision Entryways............................................................................................... 31

6.2... Gateways ................................................................................................................... 32

6.3... Streetscape Enhancement ......................................................................................... 38

7.1... Street System ............................................................................................................. 40

7.2... Pathway Plan ............................................................................................................ 42

7.3... Public Transit ............................................................................................................ 49

8.1... Police Protection ....................................................................................................... 50

8.2... Fire Protection .......................................................................................................... 52

8.3... School Districts ......................................................................................................... 52

8.4... Parks and Recreation ................................................................................................ 53

8.5... Library Service .......................................................................................................... 55

8.6... Water and Sewer ....................................................................................................... 56

9...... IMPLEMENTATION.......................................................................................................... 57

9.1... Organizational Resources .......................................................................................... 57

9.2... Legislative Tools ....................................................................................................... 57

9.3... Financing Techniques ............................................................................................... 58

Community Survey ............................................................................................................. 61

1. Village Jurisdictions Map ........................................................................................................ 6

2. Existing Land Use Map .......................................................................................................... 7

3. Future Land Use Plan ........................................................................................................... 17

4. Subareas Map ..................................................................................................................... 23

6. Commercial Center Concept Plan.......................................................................................... 27

7. Commercial Center Sketch ................................................................................................... 27

9. Proposed Gateway Locations ............................................................................................... 33

12. Street System Plan ............................................................................................................... 41

15. Pathway Plan ....................................................................................................................... 46

16. Community Facilities Map .................................................................................................... 51

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 1999 Village of Burr Ridge Comprehensive Plan presents land use and development policies for the incorporated portions of Burr Ridge and areas that may be annexed to the Village of Burr Ridge in the future. The land use plan reflects the Village of Burr Ridge’s vision for its future development and largely continues existing development patterns. The Comprehensive Plan addresses residential, commercial and industrial development, open space policy, community design, community facilities, new growth areas and transportation issues. It also provides guidelines for enhancing and maintaining the overall physical and environmental character of the Village.

Since the incorporation of the Village of Harvester in 1956, and the formation of the Village of Burr Ridge in 1962, Burr Ridge has sought to guide its own destiny as an upscale community with a strong rural character. Burr Ridge has grown as a bedroom community with a character that is distinctly different from its neighbors. Implementation of the Comprehensive Plan is intended to protect the Village’s residential character and ensure the continuance of a strong tax base which will enable the Village to maintain and improve existing levels of service and public facilities for its residents. In doing so, Burr Ridge will be able to achieve its community vision.

COMMUNITY VISION

A plan should begin with a clear vision of what it hopes to accomplish. In the case of the Burr Ridge Comprehensive Plan, that future is described in the following statement.

Burr Ridge is a high quality suburban community with low density neighborhoods characterized by distinctive homes in natural wooded settings. Our Village accommodates residents who seek a sense of privacy in a tranquil environment. We desire to enhance the Village’s physical beauty, keeping Burr Ridge a very special place.

PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS

The Comprehensive Plan identifies goals and objectives intended to help achieve this vision. These are supported by the following specific plan recommendations.

Residential Development

Future residential developments should maintain, preserve and create additional wooded areas and other natural features, giving special consideration to topographical and floodplain conditions. The existing general pattern of housing types and low densities should be maintained, consistent with the underlying zoning. Future residential developments should be encouraged to have lot sizes of 30,000 square feet or larger.

Commercial and Industrial Development

The existing industrial parks and commercial developments should be maintained and enhanced to appropriate standards to sustain a strong tax base for the Village. The development of vacant parcels within the Burr Ridge Corporate Park should be facilitated. However, commercial uses that have minimal traffic impact on surrounding residential areas should be emphasized. County Line Square should be renovated and developed with a wide range of neighborhood and convenience shopping or community uses, consistent with the needs of Burr Ridge residents.

Open Space

Conservation easements should be encouraged as a method of preserving existing open spaces and wooded areas within Burr Ridge. A conservation easement is a legal agreement a property owner makes to restrict the type and amount of development that may take place on his or her property. Conservation easements should be actively encouraged along the County Line Road corridor and in the German Church Road subarea. The Village of Burr Ridge may serve as a qualified organization for receiving easement donations and, in appropriate circumstances, should consider doing so.

New Growth Areas

The Village should actively seek appropriate boundary agreements with neighboring communities and annex the unincorporated parcels within its existing boundaries. These new growth areas should be integrated with the existing fabric of the Village. Plans should be developed to maintain and improve older county subdivisions that have been or will be annexed into Burr Ridge.

The Burr Ridge Corporate Park Subarea

The Burr Ridge Corporate Park occupies one of the most prominent locations in Burr Ridge. Located adjacent to the Interstate Route I-55 and County Line Road interchange, the Corporate Park presents many visitors with their first image of Burr Ridge. Office is the preferred use for most of the remaining vacant land. This use represents a departure from the underlying L-1 Light Industrial zoning that is currently in place for a major portion of the Corporate Park. While office uses are allowed under the present zoning, industrial uses area also permitted which are not consistent with the development pattern that has been encouraged in the Corporate Park since its annexation into the Village of Burr Ridge. Consequently, the Village should rezone land to appropriate office classifications to reflect existing uses and accommodate desirable future developments.

The Comprehensive Plan also recommends upgrading and renovating County Line Square to create a well-defined and attractive pedestrian-oriented development. A wide range of commercial developments should be encouraged in County Line Square. The redevelopment and repositioning of County Line Square as an attractive destination-based town center, represents one of the biggest development challenges that will face the Village in the coming years. However, it also represents a unique opportunity for Village officials to act proactively in creating the kind of community focal point that many residents believe is currently missing in Burr Ridge.

The German Church Road Subarea

The German Church Road subarea is located south of German Church Road and east of County Line Road. Most of this area is expected to someday become part of the Village. This portion of Burr Ridge’s planning area contains rolling terrain punctuated by areas of steep slopes, woodlands and floodplains. Portions of this area have developed for residential purposes under Cook County zoning.

Recognizing that Burr Ridge is a community of identified subdivisions, new development within this subarea should take on a specific residential character that is consistent with the lot sizes of surrounding developments such as Arrowhead Farm. It is also desirable that new residential subdivisions take advantage of the unique characteristics of the terrain. This suggests a need for a variety of lot sizes and the consideration of the transfer of density within a traditional subdivision development to preserve open space.

Community Design

The Comprehensive Plan recommends that the Village seek to establish a distinctive visual character for the Village's major gateways and transportation corridors. The principal and secondary gateways leading into Burr Ridge should be enhanced through a combination of signage and landscaping. The signage should be rustic in appearance in order to reflect the desired rural character of Burr Ridge. The landscape material should be native to the area and consist of a mixture of shrubs and perennials with a variety of color and blooming trees. Similarly, streetscape enhancements should build upon the Village's desire for a rural character along the continuous streets that define the main edges of the community.

Burr Ridge has grown as a collection of subdivisions that maintain their own individual identities. While individuality is an important aspect of the community's identity, many residents also want to establish a common Burr Ridge identity. One way to do this would be to encourage individual subdivisions to adopt a common unifying theme or common materials in their entryway signs. Consideration should be given to amending the Subdivision Ordinance to implement this recommendation by establishing a palette of materials or other common elements that must be incorporated into subdivision entrance signage. Older subdivisions should be encouraged to adopt such unifying elements as old entryway signs are replaced.

Transportation and Circulation

Burr Ridge is served by both a local and regional roadway network which allows easy access into and out of the community. Street connections and extensions should be provided, where appropriate, in order to improve residential circulation within the Village. The purpose of these street connections should be to improve connections between residential neighborhoods and not to encourage cut through traffic within the neighborhoods.

Burr Ridge currently possesses a loose network of sidewalks and on-road trails but lacks an overall system of pedestrian and bicycle pathways. The main objectives of the pathway plan are to serve local residents and strengthen the sense of community by connecting neighborhoods to local destinations such as parks, schools, shopping centers and community centers.

Community Facilities and Services

One of the issues that faces Burr Ridge in its effort to establish a clear community identity is the preponderance of overlapping tax districts of the various governmental units and utilities that provide services to Burr Ridge residents. The number of these districts significantly limit a "sense of community" by precluding a common sharing of institutional resources. However, there are also opportunities to build upon elements that create a strong community image. Toward this end, community facilities that serve all Burr Ridge Residents should be encouraged. Specifically, the Plan recommends exploring the potential for providing Village library services to better serve Burr Ridge residents.

IMPLEMENTATION

The Comprehensive Plan is a guide that can help the Village of Burr Ridge fulfill its vision. Implementation of its recommendations will require the use of a variety of approaches, but because no plan implements itself, the most important resource is people. Recommendations without active support groups are seldom enacted. In Burr Ridge, several groups will need to continue to be involved in furthering the Comprehensive Plans recommendations, including the Plan Commission & Zoning Board of Appeals, Economic Development Committee and the Pathway Commission. Other groups may emerge, as specific issues become important.

The Village Board is probably the most critical group in ensuring that the Burr Ridge continues to grow and prosper in accordance with the spirit of the Comprehensive Plan. The Village Board passes the ordinances that enable recommendations to go forward and approves their financing and support. Ultimately, any of the Plan's recommendations must come before the Board and be supported before any serious action can be taken. The Comprehensive Plan provides continuity and a context for addressing the challenges that lie ahead.

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This Comprehensive Plan represents the Village of Burr Ridge’s vision for the future and serves as a guide for its physical, economic, environmental and social development. The Plan considers land use and development policies for the incorporated portions of Burr Ridge and areas that may be annexed to the Village of Burr Ridge in the future. The limits of Burr Ridge’s planning area include unincorporated land within the area generally bounded by Flagg Creek and Interstate Route I-294 on the east, the Des Plaines River on the south, Robert Kingery Highway (Route 83) and Madison Street on the west and 55^th Street on the north. Several distinct geographic areas fall within the Burr Ridge jurisdictional planning area including the Babson Park West residential neighborhood located north of Interstate Route I-55 and east of Madison Street, residential subdivisions, industrial areas and vacant land located east of Robert Kingery Highway extending south to the Des Plaines River, and vacant and improved residential land along either side of County Line Road located south of 79^th Street. Also included within Burr Ridge’s planning area are several pockets of unincorporated land which are bordered on all sides by the Village of Burr Ridge.

The Comprehensive Plan provides a framework to preserve and protect the existing built environment and to guide future growth so that it is compatible with the quality of existing development in Burr Ridge. To this end, the Plan is a guide for future policy decisions for Burr Ridge and its planning area.

The Comprehensive Plan considers land use patterns and development trends within Burr Ridge as well as in its adjacent planning area. The plan addresses residential, commercial and industrial development, open space policy, community design, community facilities, new growth areas and transportation issues. It provides guidelines for enhancing and maintaining the overall physical and environmental character of the Village.

The Comprehensive Plan is organized into nine chapters. Chapter 2 establishes the framework of the Plan and includes a community vision statement as well as the main goals and objectives of the Plan. Chapter 3 presents an overview of Burr Ridge and describes the existing conditions and development trends, which provide the context for the Comprehensive Plan’s recommendations. The goals and objectives have been grouped under five categories, namely, the Land Use Plan, Subarea Plans, Community Design, Transportation and Circulation, and Community Facilities. Each of these categories then forms a separate chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. The respective chapters recommend specific actions and plans to achieve the goals identified for each component. Finally, the implementation chapter suggests alternative resources and techniques that can be used to realize the recommendations in the Comprehensive Plan. The Appendix includes a discussion of the results of the key person interviews, focus groups and the community survey that formed the public participation process used to identify key community issues and attitudes.

Implementation of the Comprehensive Plan is intended to protect the Village’s residential character and ensure the continuance of a strong tax base which will enable the Village to maintain and improve existing levels of services and public facilities for its residents.

Maintain the existing residential environment that is characterized by high quality housing and low density neighborhoods in a wooded setting.

· Maintain and encourage predominantly single family developments with limited expansion of, appropriately located, non-single family developments.

· Maintain and encourage low density residential developments with a variety of lot sizes. Lot sizes are encouraged to be 30,000 square feet or larger.

· Promote distinctive and upscale residential developments with high architectural quality.

· Maintain, preserve and create additional wooded areas and other natural features in the existing and future residential developments, giving special consideration to topographical and flood plain conditions.

· Require appropriate transitional uses and/or landscape screening between residential developments and adjacent different land uses.

Commercial and industrial developments should strengthen and maintain property values and provide a strong tax base for the Village.

· Maintain the existing industrial parks in the Village to appropriate standards and enhance them as a continued tax base for the Village.

· Facilitate development of only those commercial/industrial uses that generate traffic patterns that do not significantly impact the existing residential environment.

· Maintain and preserve ravines, woodlands, wetlands and flood plains in the Village, especially in the southern portions and the German Church Road subarea.

· Encourage the use of conservation easements as a method of preserving existing open spaces and wooded areas.

· Require that new development projects be built in accordance with the Burr Ridge Special Flood Hazard Ordinance.

New growth areas should be developed with high quality, low density residential uses consistent with the character of the Village of Burr Ridge.

· Define long-term Village of Burr Ridge boundaries, and actively seek appropriate boundary agreements with neighboring communities.

· Integrate new growth areas with the existing fabric of the Village. This might require that previously developed areas be encouraged to conform with Burr Ridge development standards upon annexation.

· Develop plans to maintain and improve older county subdivisions that have been, or will be, annexed into the Village.

The development of the remaining large tracts of vacant land in the Village and its planning area should enhance the image of Burr Ridge as an upscale residential community and a prestigious business address.

· Facilitate development of the vacant parcels in the Burr Ridge Corporate Park.

· Reconfigure County Line Square as the Village Center by developing a wide range of neighborhood/convenience shopping and institutional uses consistent with the needs of the community.

· Upgrade and renovate County Line Square to create a well defined, attractive and pedestrian oriented development.

· Annex the German-Church Road subarea to Burr Ridge and ensure its development is sensitive to the significant natural features of the site.

Enhance the community’s image by creating a distinctive visual character for the main entrance corridors to the Village of Burr Ridge.

· Landscape and develop the County Line Road and Frontage Road intersections, north and south of the Route I-55 interchange, the South Frontage Road and 91^st Street right-of-way intersections with Robert Kingery Highway, and the Madison Street and Plainfield Road intersection as gateways to the community. Establish signage to identify other main entrance points into Burr Ridge.

· Encourage individual subdivisions to design their entryway signs to include common features from the Village’s entrance signage, in order to unify and identify the subdivisions as being part of Burr Ridge.

· Landscape the frontage roads to define and enhance their connections with County Line Road and buffer Interstate Route I-55.

· Preserve the existing estate-type character of County Line Road in accordance with the County Line Road Overlay District, as amended through March, 1955.

· Develop a continuous natural open space area along the Des Plaines River to define the southern edge of the Burr Ridge planning area.

· Encourage tree planting on public and private property to enhance the wooded character of Burr Ridge.

Control traffic volumes and patterns so that they do not adversely impact residential areas

· Maintain and develop roads, streets and highways in proper scale with their intended uses and adjacent land uses, to ensure that they can safely handle present and anticipated traffic volumes.

· Encourage non-residential land uses that enhance the Village tax base yet attract minimal non-local traffic.

· Provide for through vehicular traffic on major arterials with minimum inconvenience to residents.

· Encourage the connection of residential growth areas to the existing Burr Ridge circulation system.

· Promote development of low volume residential roadways to maintain privacy and tranquil environment.

· Provide street extensions and connections between residential neighborhoods, as appropriate, to improve circulation within the Village.

· Establish and maintain a pedestrian and bicycle pathway system in the Village, which connects the neighborhoods to community facilities such as parks, schools, shopping centers and community centers.

· Maintain existing, and encourage additional, recreational facilities that serve residents of all age groups.

· Encourage park districts to provide each Burr Ridge neighborhood with open space and neighborhood parks.

· Consider providing a community house or some other common facility available to all residents, preferably with a central location in the Burr Ridge Corporate Park.

· Explore the potential for providing common Village library services for all Burr Ridge residents, preferably located in the Burr Ridge Corporate Park.

· Encourage residents to convert from individual wells and septic systems to Village water and sanitary sewer systems.

· Encourage the routine maintenance of privately-owned detention ponds to insure that storm water detention capacity is adequate, in order to minimize flooding.

The Burr Ridge Comprehensive Plan reflects the realities of the present and the historic character of the community. Existing conditions and development trends provide the context for the Comprehensive Plan’s goals and objectives. In order to understand the community context, existing land use, zoning classifications, environmental conditions, roadway networks, community facilities and services, population characteristics, and economic growth potential were all considered in the planning process. These topics are discussed throughout the Plan, with basic data describing land use, demographic and housing characteristics, and economic base summarized in this chapter.

Burr Ridge is surrounded by undeveloped land and other municipalities, as shown in Figure 1: Village Jurisdictions Map. The community straddles the Cook and DuPage County line, with County Line Road forming the main entryway to the Village. As a result of a number of annexations over the forty year history of Burr Ridge, the Village boundaries have grown in an irregular fashion with a number of jagged edges and unincorporated parcels that are wholly surrounded by Burr Ridge.

Since its initial incorporation as the Village of Harvester in 1956, and the formation of the Village of Burr Ridge in 1962, Burr Ridge has sought to guide its own destiny as an upscale community with a strong rural character. However, Burr Ridge is not “rural” in the true sense of the word, since it cannot trace its roots to an agricultural heritage like some of its neighbors. Rather, “rural” is more reflective of a natural environment with woodlands, wildlife, interesting topography, and a sense of privacy that evolved out of a collection of early Cook County and DuPage County subdivisions built on former farms.

Burr Ridge has grown as a bedroom community with a character that is distinctly different from its neighbors. The community’s existing land use and development pattern, demographic and housing characteristics and economic base provide the physical and social context within which the Comprehensive Plan provides guidance. These topics are discussed in the remainder of this chapter.

Figure 2: Existing Land Use Map, shows the general pattern of existing land use in the Village of Burr Ridge and surrounding unincorporated areas likely to be annexed to Burr Ridge. The following discussion focuses first on the land use pattern within the current Village of Burr Ridge municipal limits. This section concludes with an overall discussion of the land use pattern within that area considered to be the ultimate Village boundaries.

Over the years, the incorporated portions of the Village of Burr Ridge have grown as a result of annexation. As evident from Table 1, the land area of the Village of Burr Ridge has shown a significant increase over the last three decades, growing by approximately 169%, or 2,639 acres, between 1964 and 1999. Over this period the amount of developed acreage has grown for all land use types except for industrial. The lower percentage of industrial land use appears to stem largely from changes in land classification, since commercial and office/research were not identified as separate land use categories in the 1964 comprehensive plan. However, there still has been a real decrease in the number of acres devoted to industrial, office and commercial uses, declining from 441 acres in 1964 to 415 acres in 1999.

The Village’s zoning ordinance defines seventeen districts for residential, commercial, industrial, office and research-assembly and transitional uses. The zoning districts generally follow the existing land use patterns. Most conform to the notion of buffering high intensity uses with moderate intensity uses, rather than having low intensity uses and high intensity uses side-by-side. For example, the Village buffers light industrial uses with business uses or higher density residential.

Single family residential is the largest single land use, occupying 43% of the land in Burr Ridge. This category accounted for nearly 57% of the increase in the Village’s land area between 1964 and 1999. Commercial and office and community facilities have also shown a modest percentage increase. In contrast, the percentage of the Village occupied by industrial uses showed a sharp percentage decrease from 28% to 8% of the total land area over this period.

Although industrial land use has decreased as a percentage of total land area, it represents the second largest land use category in Burr Ridge. This is a reflection of the easy access to major transportation thoroughfares. There are seven business parks including Brush Hill Trust, Burr Ridge Corporate Park, Burr Ridge Industrial Commons, Burr Ridge Park (Tower Drive), High Grove and the Hinsdale Industrial Park. The majority of these parks can be found just north of I-55, both east and west of County Line Road, and south of I-55, both east and west of Madison Street.

Most retail uses are found in the County Line Square shopping center located in the Burr Ridge Corporate Park and to the east of Madison Street along Frontage Road. Retail uses are geared to the convenience shopping needs of residents and office workers and include restaurants, a local mini-mart, dry cleaner and florist. Small professional offices are found on the west side of County Line Road between I-55 and 77^th Avenue. Larger office buildings are concentrated in the Burr Ridge Corporate Park.

Land devoted to parks and open space has increased substantially since 1964, and included 307.4 acres in 1999. Vacant land within the Village has grown as a result of annexation of land intended for residential use and, in 1999, consisted of approximately 644 acres. The increase in the amount of land within the Village devoted to transportation, waterways and utilities is mostly a reflection of streets built to serve new developments on previously vacant land.

Since Burr Ridge first began planning for its future growth, its potential expansion area has become smaller as a result of annexations by surrounding municipalities and municipal boundary agreements. Table 2 presents the estimated acreage of the various land uses within Burr Ridge’s planning area in 1999, and compares these totals with similar information from 1982 and 1964. Data for 1964 and 1982 were obtained from the comprehensive plans prepared during these years.

The total planning area, as illustrated in Table 2, decreased by 36% or 3,289 acres between 1964 and 1999. Much of the decrease in the planning area boundary between 1964 and 1982 resulted from the decision to move the southern limits of the planning area from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to the Des Plaines River. Subsequent reductions in the planning area primarily reflect annexations by surrounding communities that have reduced the amount of land that may eventually become part of Burr Ridge.

Village of Burr Ridge Board of Trustees

Village President Jo Irmen

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

3. OVERVIEW