This year, the village of Niles saw a number of controversies, new developments and some law changes that are poised to affect the village for years to come.
VIDEO GAMBLING
At the beginning of the year, the village was poised to overturn its ban on video gambling machines. In January 2014, a task force assembled by Mayor Andrew Przybylo held two meetings to collect testimony from residents, businesses and non-profit organizations.
In February, it recommended lifting the ban. But as the ordinance came up for vote during the April Village Board meeting, a number of residents complained that they didn’t get a chance to speak. Przybylo decided to hold off the vote for another month. The vote didn’t happen the next meeting – or any meeting after that.
Since then, Przybylo said he decided not to bring the change up for vote in a response to resident concerns.
TREE ORDINANCE
January 2014 also saw the introduction of the Tree Ordinance – a package of amendments to existing laws regulating trees on public and private properties. The ordinance was created by the Niles Environmental Practices Committee.
Among other things, it requires residents to obtain permits before removing trees and fives the village the authority to remove dead trees from private property if property owners don’t remove them.
The ordinance immediately sparked concerns among residents and some trustees that it went too far, infringing on private property rights. The board sent the ordinance back to the Environmental Practices Committee, which scaled back some of the more controversial provisions. But the changes didn’t ease the concerns, and the board voted against that version.
In October, the committee tried again, approving a version that kept the provision about the village’s power to remove dead trees but removed most other changes. The primary purpose of this version of the Tree Ordinance was to allow the village to obtain the Tree City designation, which would qualify it for more grants, officials said. The Village Board approved this version later that month.
GUN SHOP
But the controversy over the Tree Ordinance was nothing compared to what ensued when a group of Chicago area businessmen applied for a special permit to open Sportsman’s Club gun shop and shooting range on Howard Street in Niles’ industrial district.
In May, the Village Board voted to prohibit sale and trade of handguns in the village’s commercial areas and allow sale of handguns in industrial areas
More Top Picks Post Concussion Vision Problems Explained
. A week later, Sportsman’s Club went to the Niles Plan Commission to apply for a Special Use permit. The commission recommended that the village board approve the application.But in the weeks between the recommendation and the June board meeting, the word of the application spread. Residents of Skokie, Lincolnwood and Niles contacted trustees, expressing concerns that the shop would be too close to Niles West High School and several other schools. People for a Safer Society, a Skokie-based group that formed in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, soon became one of the most vocal voices of opposition.
In response, the board sent the permit back to the Plan Commission. The commission held a special meeting that lasted for almost four hours, with a number of residents and non-residents speaking either for or against the shop. The commission wound up renewing its recommendation, and the Village Board approved the Special Use permit during its July meeting.
But the controversy didn’t end there. In September, the board passed an eight-month moratorium on granting special use permits to gun shops and other firearms-related businesses. And in October, People for a Safer Society sued the Village of Niles. The group hopes to not only revoke Sportsman’s Club’s permit, but to prohibit any other gun shop from getting a permit in that particular lot. The legal proceedings are still ongoing.
LIBRARY CHANGE
Meanwhile, the Niles Public Library was going through administrative upheaval. It all started in March, when the Library Board approved the Retirement Incentive Program.
Under this program, all library employees ages 62 and older who worked there for at least 10 years get to choose whether to stay on and get 36 months of health insurance coverage at the current enrollment levels, or retire and get a one-time cash pay-out.
One of the employees who chose to take the payout was Linda Weiss, a library director since 2008 who shepherded the library through a year-long renovation. Her retirement took effect on June 30.
Originally, Greg Pritz, the library’s business manager, was appointed interim director. But a few weeks before the appointment took effect, Pritz said he wouldn’t accept it. Pritz said he was concerned that, if he accepted the position, the library board wouldn’t be motivated to find an interim director, and he felt he wasn’t equipped to handle the responsibilities of the interim director position in the long term.
During the July 15 meeting, the board wound up appointing Assistant Directors Susan Lempke and Barbara Kruser as Co-Interim Directors. But two days later, Kruser resigned from Niles Library to become the director of Lombard’s Helen Plum Memorial Library, leaving Lempke as the sole interim director.
The library is still looking for a new director. In September, it hired North Carolina based Coleman Lew Associates to handle the director search. During the December meeting, the board finalized the job description for a new director. According to Kenneth D. Carrick Jr., president of Coleman Lew, the actual search will begin in January 2015.
CHIEF RETIRES
The library wasn’t the only Niles public institution to lose its leader. During an Oct 28 Village Board meeting, it was announced that Niles Police Department Chief Dean Strzelecki would retire effective Nov 15. Deputy Chief Dennis McEnerney was appointed interim chief.
But Strzelecki may not be done with Niles government yet. On Nov 8, it was announced that he joined Trustee Joe LoVerde and Niles Ethics Board member Denise McCreery in the Niles Forward Party slate, which is running for Village Board in April’s municipal election.
BIG PROJECTS
The year saw a number of long-running projects reaching fruition. In December, the village completed the first of many projects that promise to reduce flooding throughout the village. And in late October, the Niles skate park, which area teen skateboarders had lobbied for since 2010, finally opened. The Niles Park District plans to put some finishing touches on the park in the spring 2015.
LONG TERM IMPACT
This year also brought some news whose impact hasn’t been felt quite yet In June, Sterling Organization LLC , a real estate developer from Palm Beach, Fla., bought the Golf Mill Shopping Center.
On Aug 21, the village of Niles unveiled a “vision” for the Touhy Avenue corridor that included a new hotel, a bigger park around the Leaning Tower of Niles and a Metra station.
And in September, Pace finalized its proposal for changes to the Niles Free Bus system. Pace and Village of Niles are currently trying to work out some details, and the changes would still need to be approved by both Pace and the Village Board.
If approved, the changes would split the current Route 411 into two separate routes that would incorporate parts of Route 413, while Route 412 would be altered to match ridership demand.
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Contact Lenses
TRUSTEE REFERENDUM
But perhaps the biggest change that could affect the village for years to come came in November, when the Niles voters approved a referendum that took away the mayor’s ability to fill trustee vacancies. Now, if a vacancy occurs, the seat will remain empty until the next municipal election. If the vacancy occurs less than 196 days before the next election, it will be filled at the election that would take place two years later.
In the run-up to the referendum, attorneys from Ancel Glick said that the new law could cause problems if there were three trustee vacancies at the same time. This would make it impossible for the board to have a super-majority, they said. Among other issues, the board would need at least four trustees to override a Zoning Board of Appeals’ denial of permits, as well as the mayor’s decision to fire appointed officials, attorneys said.
It remains to be seen whether such scenarios ever come to pass.