Wilmette Village President Bob Bielinski says the main headlines for Wilmette this coming year will be progress on the west side storm sewer project, and infrastructure needs in the village as a whole.
“One thing I think we’ll do is go over our options,” Bielinski said, referring to the review process now underway and scheduled for completion by September, of stormwater control plans recommended by consultants with Christopher B. Burke Engineering. “But I think this will be a decision year. Once that decision happens, I think it will be a four- to five-year project going forward.”
“We’ve had really thoughtful engagement in this process and once again this year, it will be a transparent process,” he said.
Bielinski said that in addition to seeing a new village board in May, residents can look forward to being involved in discussions about projects that elicited controversy or debate in previous years.
That includes a potential affordable housing project on the site of the former American Legion hall at 1925 Wilmette Avenue, and plans by Loyola Academy officials to overhaul and modernize their west Wilmette high school campus.
Village debate on the two latter issues will probably be “lively,” Bielinski said, acknowledging opposition in 2015 and 2016 to previous iterations of those two projects: the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation’s initial housing proposal, which HODC pulled from consideration more than a year ago after neighbors objected, and the 2016 fight by Loyola Academy neighbors against the school’s plans, now shelved, for two new parking lots.
In September 2016, HODC presented a revamped affordable housing project to neighbors, and village officials said in October the village’s plan commission could review the new project in January. On Jan. 24, Community Development Director John Adler said the earliest it might come before the commission would be April.
“I expect whatever is presented, will be subject to a full public process about issues like density and appropriateness, size and scale. I expect that discussion to be lively,” Bielinski said.
Loyola, which announced a long-term planning process, “Loyola Forward 2025,” in October, was scheduled to show the first iteration of that plan, of which parking would only be a part, to neighbors on Jan. 26.
Bielinski said he believed the discussion, much larger than the early parking lot debate, will be a good one.
Wilmette can also look forward to the completion of the Green Bay Road retail-residential project now underway by M&R Development, Bielinski said, saying it adds another piece to downtown Wilmette’s economic vitality.
Most of the village’s business districts are doing well, he said, although he said the Linden Square district near the CTA Purple Line station at 4th Street and Linden Avenue does have some economic challenges.
Following the April municipal elections, Bielinski will preside over a changed board; trustees Ted McKenna, Carol Ducommun, and Cameron Krueger will depart the dais and three of four candidates running in the election will take their place. Getting the new board up to speed will be a priority, he said.
“I’m a fan of term limits, because it means we constantly have new blood, which is always good for the process,” he said.
The new board will benefit from the extensive 2017 budget process its predecessor undertook in 2016, Bielinski said, saying that the 15 or 16 hours the board spent with village staff working on the budget also put in place an efficient method of reviewing long term needs, and finding money to fund those needs.
He said continued water main replacement will be one of the needs the board will look at this year. Eventually, officials will have to make decisions on whether to build a new police station since the current one, built in 1968, lacks much of the technology infrastructure of modern police stations, he said.
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“We made some hard decisions” on infrastructure and funding in 2016, Bielinski said, pointing to the increased property tax rate approved last year by the board. “But we have a funding level now that provides for more road improvement, and as our old debt sloughs off, we will have more money to put toward infrastructure.”
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