Clarendon Hills Pauses Plaza Controversy

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Clarendon Hills, where residents are divided over whether to build a downtown plaza, is hitting pause on the idea.

At last week's Village Board meeting, Village President Eric Tech said Trustee Denise Kavuliak had a good plan about where to proceed with downtown changes. He let her speak.

Kavuliak proposed that the board hire a third-party, independent facilitator to gather the public's feedback on the downtown's future. Much has changed, particularly with outdoor dining and traffic, since before the pandemic.

"We probably agree on a lot more than we disagree about how to use the downtown," Kavuliak said.

About the recent debate over the plaza, Kavuliak said, "I love the passion. I love that the people are not apathetic about our town, so let's channel that and build off what we agree on."

Tech noted that the village created a downtown plan in 2004 and updated it a decade later. He endorsed the idea of figuring out where the village wants to go next with downtown.

Board members appeared to agree with that idea.

In recent months, the village has been discussing a proposal to replace the Sloan Triangle at Prospect and Park avenues with a plaza. It would involve removing a special lane from Prospect to Park.

Others contended the plan would cause traffic backups and endanger pedestrians.

At July's Village Board meeting, some residents portrayed the debate over the issue on Facebook as unnecessarily divisive.