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Village officials will try again to gain grant money to jump-start the New Lenox Commons Plan.

Rod Zenner of the Planning Department said Tuesday that the village again would submit an application for a $400,000 Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant. A 1996 application for one of the grants was turned down.

If approved, the grant calls for another $400,000 from the village treasury.

The money would be used to buy 8 or 9 acres of open land south of U.S. Highway 30. The village owns slightly more than 2 acres of the land planners have earmarked for a commons area, featuring public buildings, parkland, small shops and some dwellings.

Lack of money to buy land has been a roadblock to action on the New Lenox Commons plan.