Board Meeting: Final Redevelopment Plan Presented, Filming Standards in Revision

The central event at Monday’s Western Springs Board of Trustees meeting was the presentation of the final version of the Downtown Redevelopment Plan, which will be officially voted upon by the Board later this month.

The revised plan eliminates any mention of rebuilding housing along the south side of Burlington Avenue east of Wolf Road, and limits the future height of buildings on several commercially-zoned lots near residential homes to 2 ½ stories.

Some ideas from the plan, like adding outdoor seating to or using vacant storefronts for art installations, could be done quickly (they are, in fact, called “quick-hit” ideas.) But in his presentation, Mike Hoffman of Teska Associates made it clear that any implementation of the plan would be up to at least three factors: the property owners, the Village and the economic market.

“When we’re calling it a redevelopment site, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the structures that are there are going to go away,” Hoffman added. “It may well be that it’s just a façade rehab, or some modification to the existing building. But we wanted to sketch out what [the downtown] might look someday in the future.”

“There’ve been comments that I’ve heard in the past, that all we need is another plan to sit on the shelf and collect dust," said Village President Bill Rodeghier. "But I think this one is definitely something that is relevant and something that [we] would like to see.”

A special voting meeting was also held, during which a number of ordinances passed. Most concerned the final approval of extended outdoor liquor hours for the restaurant , with the outdoor liquor hours now covering their entire outdoor dining time. Restaurant owner Jack Hogan was in attendance, and told the Board that he had indeed been sending people indoors an hour before closing due to the liquor code.

Two permits for 2011 public bike rides were approved at the meeting: one for the Wright Bike Ride Event that comes through town in August 21, and another for the ACES Bike Rally, which will be held in Springdale.

Representing the General Government Committee, Trustee Deborah Lyons told the board that the filming of Contagion in December thrust into light the village’s policy on filming for movies and commercials.

“It really highlighted the need to revise the policy that we have, which had been in effect since 1998 and is a little outdated,” Lyons said. The Committee will be reevaluating and revising the policy, and comparing it to those of nearby towns. (The filming policy is not just for movies—it affects local commercials as well.)

Roadway construction on Garden and Woodland Avenues is almost complete; the streets are smooth, and are currently undergoing striping. The Commonwealth/Forest Hills bridge on 53rd Street is also fully operational again. However, the main roadway project for the summer—repaving Hillgrove Avenue in the downtown—is only about to kick off later this month.

The south (Ridgewood) fire station is nearly completely ready for its Sept. 17 grand opening. It will be open at 9:30 a.m., and a dedication ceremony will take place at 10 a.m.

Following the meeting, the board recessed into executive (private) session.