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Patterson Talks Trains, Roads, Budget, Development At Glenview ‘State Of The Village’


Glenview Village President Jim Patterson (right) addresses an audence of about 100 people including State Rep. Laura Fine (D-17th) (far left) at this morning’s (Thursday) State of the Village address. (Tom Robb/Journal photo)

Glenview Village President Jim Patterson stood before a group of an estimated 100 residents, business and civic leaders and federal and state elected officials to deliver his State of the Village address this morning (Thursday) at Glenview Park Center. He discussed what the village accomplished in 2018 and looked ahead at the challenges of 2019.

Subjects discussed ranged from capital projects and developments approved and planned, to downtown development, to the fight against a proposed railroad holding track, to the village’s 2019 budget process that runs on a calendar year.

Residents’ questions ranged from encouraging downtown development to affordable housing to upcoming elections to traffic concerns.

Asked after the meeting to prioritize important issues, Patterson said his first priority is ensuring financial stability of the village and that finances are in balance. His second priority is ensuring quality of life, much of which is achieved by working collaboratively with other jurisdictions such as the park district and public library.

On the fiscal front, in 2019 village staffers will begin working on a strategic plan to attract business to downtown Glenview, Patterson said.

Among those attending the event were U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, State Rep. Laura Fine (D-17th), village trustees, library trustees, park district officials including Executive Director Mike McCarty, Northbrook Glenview Dist. 30 Supt. Brian Wegley, Alliance to Control Train Impact On Neighborhoods (ACTION) leaders Chuck Balling and Bill Attea, and Glenview Chamber of Commerce Director Betsy Baer.

Glenview Television recorded the event for broadcast on the village’s cable access channel.

Glenview Chamber of Commerce Director Betsy Baer (standing right) chats with U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th) (seated left). (Journal photo)

Village Budget

 

Village trustees have held three budget workshops over the last few months. The village uses a calendar year for its budget rather than a July to June fiscal year. A public hearing is scheduled later this month before budget adoption in December.

The budget is in structural balance, Patterson said, with $21.48 million earmarked for stormwater, road and other improvements. Patterson said village officials are closely monitoring developments in Springfield watching how state revenue for the village might be impacted by state lawmakers.

 

Hiawatha Fight

Glenview Village Presidents Jim Patterson shows a slide detailing issues related to the Hiawatha Line expansion fight. (Journal photo)

Patterson devoted a good portion of his discussion to what has become a possible threat to the village’s quality of life: the proposed expansion of Amtrak’s Hiawatha Line service between Chicago and Milwaukee.

The proposal would increase the number of Hiawatha trains from seven round trips to 10 round trips a day, or 14 one way trips to 20.

To accommodate the added passenger traffic, the proposal would build additional stretches of track in several communities — including a two-mile section of track in Glenview between Willow Road and West Lake Avenue — into Northbrook and Lake Forest where freight traffic could pull off the main line and hold. Patterson said there has been unofficial talk of expanding those proposed tracks further to three miles in length.

Those “holding tracks,” as Patterson called them, would lead to increased traffic congestion, noise and air pollution, as the train diesel engines would stay idling.

Patterson said resistance to the proposal by Glenview and Lake Forest municipal officials and the ACTION activist group has led to a slowing of the project and meetings with both Glenview officials and ACTION members with Illinois Secretary of Transportation Randall Blankenhorn. Further meetings between IDOT and Glenview officials are planned later this month.

The village earmarked $400,000 to oppose the project. Several thousand residents signed petitions opposing the Hiawatha expansion — petitions the village recently sent to federal transportation officials.

During his address, Patterson praised State Rep. Laura Fine (D-17th) and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th), both who were in attendance, along with U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) who was not.

 

 

Road, Sewer & Infrastructure Projects

 

Patterson looked back at projects completed in 2018 and looked forward to projects the village would work on in 2019.

Road work completed in 2018 included a major project in The Glen, along with other projects along Crestwood Drive, Dewes Street, Linden Lane, Locust Avenue and Topp Lane.  

In total, the village reconstructed 1.5 miles of village streets at a cost of $8.1 million, and resurfaced an additional 3.25 miles of village streets at a cost of $1.6 million.

Drainage and culvert projects were completed in 2018 at Wagner Farm and in the Tall Trees neighborhood.

In 2019, Patterson said planned projects include reconstructing 3.1 miles of village roads at a cost of $8.75 million, resurfacing an additional 2.8 miles of village streets at a cost of $1.76 million and replacing 13,000 feet of water main. A retaining wall is also expected to be replaced along the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River between Glenview Road and Waukegan Road. Additional parking options are also being considered near the downtown Glenview Metra Station.

Lake Avenue, which narrows over the West Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River just west of Wagner Road, is expected to be repaired and widened back to two lanes in each direction by Cook County officials by January 2019. Repairs began in September.

Glenview officials are also considering improved monument and wayfinding signage village wide.

Patterson said another Willow Road bridge over Lehigh Avenue, near Patriot Boulevard, would be widened by IDOT in 2019. A study into Sanders Road would also be conducted by county officials next year.

The village is considering options to replace the Glenview Fire Station at 1901 Landwehr Rd. The station was built in 1972 by the Glenbrook Fire Protection District, which was later taken over by the Glenview Fire Dept. A patchwork of repairs is no longer viable for the project, Patterson said. Architects and a construction manager were hired this year. Patterson said construction could take one year.

 

Private Developments

 

Patterson detailed other projects approved by village trustees in 2018, which would likely be built in 2019 or 2020.

Park Place Glenview is under construction at the old village hall site at 1225 Waukegan Road. The development will feature townhomes and rowhomes and is expected to open in 2020.

Avidor Glenview Apartments, a 169-unit, older adult apartment development, is expected to open at 650 Waukegan Rd. in fall 2019.

The building of a five-story apartment complex at 1850 Glenview Rd., on the former Bess Hardware site, is expected to come under village review in 2019. The village sold the former Bess site to developers earlier this year. Village officials completed a land swap deal with developers for land adjacent to the former Bess site. Patterson said additional parking for downtown would be developed.

A new Culver’s restaurant with a drive-through is expected to open at 1727 Waukegan Rd. in the summer of 2019.

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