DuPage County hearing keeps 7‑Eleven Park Boulevard video‑gaming request open after resident objections

At a DuPage County zoning hearing, the board left the record open for two weeks and scheduled a Dec. 4 recommendation hearing on a petition by 7‑Eleven to authorize continued video‑gaming operations at its Park Boulevard store.

The petition seeks a conditional‑use permit and a zoning variation to allow a video‑gaming establishment in a B‑1 Local Business district within 1,000 feet of places of assembly and of other video‑gaming establishments. Attorney Jonathan Lipner, representing 7‑Eleven, told the board the store has operated video gaming since March 2023 and holds Illinois Gaming Board establishment licenses issued Feb. 2, 2023, and Feb. 6, 2025 (expires Feb. 2027). Lipner said the county previously issued a Class G‑2 liquor license effective July 1, 2024, with the understanding the store would seek zoning relief.

The petition drew written objection from Lisonbee Gallo (entered as Objectors Exhibit 1) and oral opposition from three nearby residents. Greg Samaistrela, president of the Glen Ellyn Woods Civic Association, said, “I object to this,” and told the board he has lived in the area 22 years and is concerned about gambling moving into a neighborhood store used by children. Resident Lynnwood Moffett said notice of the application reached only people within the 300‑foot legal notice radius and described the intersection as “a dangerous corner” with frequent accidents and children nearby. Glenn Nelson, who said he lives three houses from the store, urged the board to uphold the county’s 1,000‑foot buffer and cited Arbor View Elementary School and Glenbard South High School as nearby assemblies.

Lipner and other presenters described the store’s video‑gaming area as interior and secured (entry only after clerks check photo ID and buzz patrons in) and estimated fewer than 50 daily video‑gaming players compared with roughly 300–400 daily convenience‑store customers. He told the board the Illinois Gaming Board and county licensing processes heavily regulate the operations and that the store maintains a use agreement with Excel Entertainment, the terminal operator.

Board members agreed to keep the record open so the parties may file additional written materials (the board gave two weeks before the Dec. 4 hearing) and to place the item on the county’s Dec. 4 recommendation agenda at 5:30 p.m. in Room 3500B. No vote on the petition was taken at the hearing.

The record will remain open for the applicant and others to submit case law, briefs or supplemental materials; the board said it would consider those filings before the recommendation meeting on Dec. 4.