The Arlington Heights Village Board approved plans for a building addition at Patton Elementary School that would be constructed as a new gymnasium to allow for more physical education classes now mandated by the state.
Arlington Heights School District 25 sought a special use permit from the village to construct the addition, and the district also asked for a waiver from having to have a traffic study and parking analysis done by an engineer. Village trustees approved both – with some stipulations – at the Oct. 2 Village Board meeting.
The board voted 8-0 in favor of the school district’s request, with Trustee Wendy Dunnington recusing herself because she is a SD25 employee.
The 4,000-square-foot gym is expected to cost SD25 an estimated $2.49 million, according to district officials, but will enable the school to run two PE sections simultaneously. The new gym will be built adjacent to the current one, which officials say can only support one section of PE at a time.
Superintendent Lori Bein told village trustees there is a new state requirement to provide more physical education instruction each week for all students.
“We have to move from two periods to three periods of PE per class as well as expanded kindergarten next year,” Bein told the board.
Previously, the school district had a waiver from the state that allowed the district to offer only two sections of PE classes. But that waiver has expired, district officials said.
The new gym at Patton is expected to open fall 2024. The state mandate will not require additional construction at the district’s other schools – in particular, Greenbrier Elementary School – based on enrollment, officials explained.
Earlier this year, the board had approved special use permits for additions at Olive-Mary Stitt, Patton, Dryden, Westgate, Greenbrier and Windsor elementary schools. The district is adding classrooms at the elementary school buildings to accommodate the introduction of a full-day, districtwide kindergarten program set to start the 2024-2025 school year. The capital improvements are being paid for with money from the $75 million bond referendum approved by voters in June 2022.
Both village staff and the Arlington Heights Plan Commission recommended approval of the school district’s request regarding the new gym.
“This seems very straightforward, and I know the students will be happy to see this,” Mayor Tom Hayes said.
Also during the meeting, the board approved an ordinance requiring Paragon Mechanical Inc., an HVAC company at 2400 S. Arlington Heights Road, to improve the landscaping around the property.
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Charles Witherington-Perkins, director of planning and community development, explained that since last year, the village has been attempting to work with the property owner who said he doesn’t have the budget to cover the more than $140,000 in recommended landscape improvements. The improvements include new landscaping on Arlington Heights Road and dismantling the adjacent former children’s safety town which was used by Elk Grove Township, the former tenant.
The property is located at the southern tip of Arlington Heights in a tax increment financing district created to spur redevelopment in the area. Perkins said a $126 million multi-use redevelopment project planned across the street from this company was just submitted to the village’s Plan Commission for consideration and improving the site is paramount for the village.
“This is an important gateway to the community,” Witherington-Perkins said.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.