La Grange Restaurant Makes 'Difficult' Request

LA GRANGE, IL – A restaurant owner on Monday asked La Grange officials to find a parking accommodation for people coming into town for special events.

At a Village Board meeting, Dan Spain, owner of The Elm, 23 W. Harris Ave., said 50 out-of-town dentists visited his restaurant for an event last month. They struggled to find parking, he said.

He said downtown has plenty of two- and three-hour parking, but the event lasted longer than that.

The only parking available for longer times are metered spots, officials said.

However, the Community and Economic Development Commission recently asked the village staff to look at ways to make parking available for participants in occasional special events, said Charity Jones, the village's community development director.

Village President Mark Kuchler said finding parking for such situations would be challenging.

"Taking 50 spots for eight hours during the day is difficult. That's not a small task," Kuchler said. "I'm not saying it's not appropriate. It's 50 spots that obviously are otherwise used. We probably would have to put our heads together to see where best to locate it."

A year ago, a village-hired consultant finished a study on downtown parking. At the time, Spain told village officials he was disappointed in the result.

On another issue, Spain said the village has delayed his request to extend the awning for The Elm, which opened in 2020.

Recently, the village's Design Review Board did not have a quorum of its members present, so the meeting was canceled, he said. The awning request was on the agenda.

"I'm trying to figure out a way in which we can streamline the process or get people on that committee, so I don't have to wait a month to get a quorum," Spain said.