Compromise On Clarendon Hills Downtown Upgrades

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Clarendon Hills trustees want to add barriers such as bollards and other "hardscape" improvements to make events more doable downtown.

Last month, trustees backed off their proposal to replace a traffic triangle on Prospect Avenue with a plaza designed for public events.

For months, residents protested that idea, saying it would cause traffic problems downtown. The village has yet to release survey results on the plaza.

Now, trustees want to add retractable bollards and hardscape improvements such as pavers.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Trustee John Weicher said he still liked the plaza, but knew it would not happen.

"This is a compromise," he said.

Village staffers presented a plan for downtown improvements over four years, paid for through downtown's special tax district.

Under the proposal, the village would spend nearly $1.2 million in the first year on the bollards and hardscape upgrades, with construction set for the fall.

Resident Angie Sartori, a plaza critic, said she was glad the village took it off the table.

"While closure with bollards just for short events could be a viable solution, any extended or 'seasonal' closure of the lane with bollards and 'hardscape' poses the same risks as a permanent closure, and has not been thoroughly tested," she said in an email to village officials Sunday.

Her comments were read into the record at Monday's board meeting.

During public comments, Greg Jordan, a former village trustee, questioned spending millions on downtown over the next four years when other needs existed.

He said he wasn't against downtown improvements, but they should be weighed against other projects. For instance, he said, the Blackhawk Heights subdivision badly needed utility improvements.

Village President Eric Tech said Blackhawk is a greater village priority than downtown. But he said the money comes from different buckets.

Money from the downtown tax district, he said, could not be used for projects elsewhere.

Jordan said the village is not mandated to spend every dollar in the downtown tax district.