By a 5-1 vote, the La Grange Park Board of Trustees last week approved amended boundaries for the 31st Street/Barnsdale Business District, but only after some pushback from residents.
The amendment was prompted by the village’s purchase of the property at 1024 Newberry Avenue in February 2025.
“The manner in which the property was purchased is questionable at best,” dissenting Trustee Karen Koncel said during public comment on the issue. “(Business Development District) funds were utilized for the purchase, even though it was not part of the TIF/BBD map.”
In order for the property to be legally eligible for special funding mechanisms, including a Business District Sales Tax of up to 1%, the property must be included in the Business Development District.
With the Newberry property being adjacent to the 31st Street/Barnsdale Business District, the village plans to demolish the existing single-family home and construct a municipal parking lot to relieve parking for the 31st Street corridor, which the village has spent considerable effort to develop as a destination district.
Public meetings have been held with residents expressing concerns about the parking problems for residents in the 1000 blocks of Newberry and nearby Beach Avenue.
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One of those meetings was November 19, 2024, when the board originally approved the ordinance to purchase the property at a price of $383,900. Koncel also voted against the purchase.
Koncel said she was concerned about the legality of the purchase last November, and “asked the TIF/BBD attorney if this was allowed under TIF/BBD rules. I was assured that it was allowed … now 8 months later after the purchase of 1024 Newberry, the village is seeking to amend the BBD/TIF map to include the property. Again, I am asking where is the transparency as it relates to the purchase of this property.”
After the vote, residents of the 1000 block of Newberry expressed their concerns about the longstanding problem of spillover parking from 31st Street.
“In 2007, when the Y(MCA), which has now become the fitness center, moved in, we had parking on both sides of the street,” “we couldn’t even pull into our street many times, couldn’t back out of our driveway,” Debbie Pater said. “It was very unsafe for children who were living on the block at that time. The Village completely ignored everything we did. We had permit parking, which they took away. It worked wonderfully and they took it away.
Mimi Lampert echoed Koncel’s concerns about transparency.
“The house was purchased under a private deal with the homeowner that none of the community knew about,” she said. “She made an offer to the village stating that if anyone in the community found out they were going to purchase the house from her the deal was going to be off.”
President James Discipio made it clear he didn’t appreciate Koncel’s comments, although he didn’t mention her by name.
“We have the best staff and we have the best board,” he said. “I see no reason to question our integrity…we had a board meeting where we voted to discuss the purchase of this property, so when I hear the lack of transparency comes in, I’m befuddled, I don’t know what you’re talking about, because it’s been out there since October of last year.”
In other business, the board unanimously approved four separate outlays for design engineering services, to be performed by Edwin Hancock Engineering for the Central Area Sewer Separation Project ($100,000), the Homestead Road Water Main improvements ($125,600), Sewer Maintenance and repair ($53,500), and Roadway Maintenance ($32,000).
Public Works Committee Chair Mike Sheehan stressed the importance of the sewer separation project.
“We’re almost there,” he said. “We’re almost going to be shovel-ready for this project that the residents on the East end of town are waiting for. Hancock has served us well for many years and I look forward to seeing this project to fruition.”
The current estimated cost of the project is $12.5 million. The village had previously accepted $4 million in funding assistance from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and, in doing so, committed the village to issue up to $5 million in bonds to help finance the project.
Costs above the $9 million from the bonds and MWRD money will be paid by other grants and village reserves.
The project is designed to provide flooding relief to the area bounded by 31st Street on the north, La Grange Road on the west, Homestead Road on the south, and the Illinois Harbor Belt railroad on the east.
The area contains local low areas, including the intersection of Barnsdale Road and Jackson Avenue, and on Monroe between Forest and Barnsdale roads.
The area has suffered increased flooding in recent years, and was particularly hard hit by the May 17, 2020 floods that devastated parts of La Grange and La Grange Park.
Separating the Forest Avenue, Homestead and Barnsdale roads storm sewers from the storm sewers along 31st Street will provide relief to the area.
The next La Grange Village Board meeting will be Tuesday, August 12, in the Village Boardroom, 447 N. Catherine Ave.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.