Bank 'Displeased' With Hinsdale's Handling Of Proposal: Mayor

HINSDALE, IL — The Hinsdale Village Board this week unanimously rejected a Chicago bank's proposal for a two-story building and drive-thru lanes on Ogden Avenue.

This was quite a change from November, when the village's Plan Commission unanimously approved the project.

For months, village officials operated under the belief that a bank was a permitted use at 222 E. Ogden Ave. That's where Lakeside Bank wanted to demolish the old, vacant medical office building and replace it with the new building.

But Village Board members said last month that they wanted sales tax-generating businesses on that portion of Ogden from York Road to Interstate 294. They stuck to that position at their meeting Tuesday.

At the meeting, Village President Tom Cauley said he had spoken with the bank president earlier in the day and that the president expressed disappointment in the process.

"He is a little displeased that the bank had gone through this process as long as it had before being told by the Village Board that we would rather it be developed for retail," Cauley said.

In response, Cauley said he told the bank president that Hinsdale would consider waiving village zoning-related fees if the bank chooses to develop another site in town.

He also said the Village Board would vote on an ordinance at its next meeting stating the board's intention to zone Ogden between York and I-294 for sales tax-generating businesses.

The bank's attorney, Peter Coules, told the board that the project would mean $47,000 more a year in property tax money for local government entities. The property in question, he said, was "pigeon-holed and blocked in."

"It will be rather difficult to put a retail use on this property," Coules said. "I think you will see it vacant for a long period of time."

At the meeting, village trustees said the bank was not the "highest and best use" of the property. The village is especially concerned with sales tax income because the Oasis on I-294 is set to close with the reconstruction of the expressway. Officials say the Oasis provides a big chunk of the village's sales tax money.

At the meeting, Coules did not say whether the bank was considering other sites in Hinsdale.