Franklin Park trustees voted last week to submit three referendum questions for the April 4 ballot.
The first of the three questions will focus on revenue the village receives from video gaming taxes. The village would like to know whether residents would want to “allocate video gaming taxes received from the state of Illinois to the police and fire pensions.”
There were 50 total licensed video gaming located at 11 businesses in Franklin Park in 2015, according to the Illinois Gaming Board. During that same year, the state received $434,963.65 and Franklin Park received $86,992.64 in tax revenue from these video gaming terminals, according to the Illinois Gaming Board’s website.
The second referendum question approved by trustees will ask whether “the village of Franklin Park shall establish a voluntary property acquisition program with grant funds for the purchase of residential properties in the floodway.”
In May, the village hosted an event to announce the findings and recommendations of the recently completed study of the Crystal Creek Watershed floodplain limits. A map of to find out whether a property is located within the regulatory floodplain can be found on the village’s website at villageoffranklinpark.com/departments/engineering/floodplain.
The third referendum question will ask whether the village “shall demolish the former police station to create additional Metra commuter parking.”
Built in 1957 for $150,000, the one-story brick building at 9545 Belmont Ave. originally housed village administrative offices, the police and fire department offices and garages, according to a Tribune article from 2011. The building had thousands of gallons water trapped in the roof’s insulation causing mold, electrical and mechanical equipment being out of code, the lack of a fire alarm or sprinkler system, and there was no access for people with disabilities, according to a 2009 report by Clark Dietz Engineers.
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Rather than focusing on a multimillion-dollar project restoring the building, the village purchased a 13-acre property from Unilever Illinois Manufacturing LLC about a block east of the old station to build a new police station. The new station opened in 2013.
Meanwhile, the old station was mentioned during a public visioning workshop held in March by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. During that workshop, residents discussed the possibility of redeveloping the central Metra station and old police station with mixed-use commercial and residential construction as a way to address the village’s needs regarding housing, revitalization, active transportation and natural resources.
The entire village board, with the exception of Village President Barrett Pedersen, approved submission of the three ballot questions on Oct. 24 at a special trustee meeting. Pedersen was not able to attend the meeting due to a speaking engagement at Elmhurst College.
Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.