Sore Spot Comes Up In Darien Debate Over Traffic Light

DARIEN, IL — Two Darien aldermen on Monday pushed for measures to reduce the number of crashes at an intersection. In making their arguments, one of them brought up a sore spot involving a loan to a country club a couple of years ago.

At a City Council meeting, Ward 4 Alderman Tom Chlystek said he backed a move to install a traffic light at Clarendon Hills Road and 67th Street. The intersection has stop signs at 67th, but not Clarendon Hills Road.

In early November, Ward 2 Alderman Lester Vaughan, who represents the area in question, asked for a four-way stop, noting the cost of a traffic light.

At Monday's meeting, Vaughan said another crash happened Sunday afternoon, with a woman's car hitting a pole. He thanked Chlystek for his support for improvements.

"Having your support as a council would be very important to this intersection, so hopefully we can put this in the budget and really just mitigate the whole situation," Vaughan said. "Not that it'll prevent all accidents, but anything we can do to make it better, I think we should do it."

Asked what a traffic light would cost, Dan Gombac, the city's municipal services director, said it would be about $350,000.

That's when Vaughan brought up the country club loan.

"If we can give Carriage Greens $366,000, we can fund a streetlight or stop sign at this intersection. Point blank," Vaughan said. "We wrote them a blank check. For what?"

Treasurer Michael Coren objected.

"I'm sorry, Alderman Vaughan, I can't let you get by with making a statement like that," Coren said. "We did advance them $366,000, but it is a loan they're repaying back by accelerated additional revenues that we're getting from there, so it's not just giving the money away... They did get the money, but it is a loan, and they've already started paying it back."

"I respect that," Vaughan said, "but we did write them a check."

Chlystek added, "It doesn't save any lives, so that's a point."

In fall 2019, the city cast the loan as an economic development incentive.

At the time, the council split 3-3 on the package, with Mayor Joseph Marchese breaking the tie in favor.

Both Vaughan and Chlystek voted against the incentive.