Voting Meeting: Rec Center Improvements, Music Makers Rezoning Approved

A number of routine ordinances passed at Monday night’s voting meeting of the Western Springs Board of Trustees, the most notable of which were to approve improvements for the Village Recreation Center and officially to rezone the lot of the future Music Makers building to commercial property.

Three new motions approved contracts for the replacement of 26 Rec Center windows, the installment of a new hardwood dance floor and the creation of a new door for the room that the Kensington School will be taking over from the departing Kaleidoscope Children’s Center.

The windows contract was assigned to All American Exterior Solutions of Lake Zurich for $47,621; the dance floor to Lenco Flooring of Prospect Heights for $15,480 and the door to SRBL Architects of Northbrook for $1,600.

Another important resolution that passed was the rezoning of the residential lot at 4332 Howard Avenue to C-1 (Village Center Commercial District) and the approval of a conditional use permit for the construction of the new Music Makers studio. The much-discussed project had inspired some controversy over the possibility of intensifying traffic in an already car-crowded area of the Village.

Other motions that passed included:

• The sale/disposal of two Village-owned cars: a 2003 Chevy Impala and a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser SUV.
• Multiple ordinances to allow AT&T/Cingular to install new satellite antennae both in Garden Market and atop the Village water tower in Spring Rock Park.
• A raffle license for St. John of the Cross for their July Family Festival.
• A $50,274 contract to Midco Security, Inc of Burr Ridge for the “2011 Security Camera Project.”
• A $24,944 contract to Morrow Brothers Ford, Inc of Greenfield for a 2011 Ford F250 truck.

During his financial report, Turstee James Horvath revealed that Villagers will soon be seeing a new method of disclosing tax assessments, one that would include details of the assessments of comparable homes in order to provide more transparency to the tax process. However, since this new system will not go into effect until after July 1, Horvath said that second-half-of-year assessments are expected to be delayed.

Horvath added that the State of Illinois is still four months behind on payments to the Village of Western Springs, and that the Village general fund is carrying just short of a $1-million surplus to last until the next assessments come in.

Additionally, a Board of Local Improvements (BOLI) meeting has been scheduled for 6:59 p.m. on July 11th, before that month’s Board meeting, to discuss $120,000 in engineering, legal and forestry expenses that the Village wants reimbursed.

President Rodeghier also offered brief comment on the weekend quasquicentennial festivities, calling the Gathering on the Green “… a great success of an event.”

“On behalf of the Village, I give thanks to all those who made it happen,” he added.

Village Manager Pat Higgins also spoke to the efforts of the Public Works Department during last week’s dangerous thunderstorm.

“I thought our organization’s performance was very good, police, public works all performed well,” Higgins said. “I’d particularly like to commend on Director [Tony] Bednarz and Deputy Director [Gary] Mayor, who stayed on top of a lot of individual situations around the community.”

Notably, the Plan Commission will be discussing and potentially voting on the Downtown Redevelopment Plan on Tuesday night. Residents are welcome and encouraged to attend.