Village Manager's Message

It is impossible to drive through the Village of Villa Park on North Ardmore Avenue without noticing the construction fencing between the Metra train station and Vermont Avenue, and the piles of aggregate on the ground behind it. Every elected official and every member of the Village leadership staff is aware of it. No one is happy with the result. The Village allowed the aggregate to stay on site for the better part of the past three years because the innovative design proposed by the current property owner included plans to recycle the material into his new building. At the last Board of Trustees meeting on January 27, that project was formally put to rest due to the inability of the property owner to submit permittable plans, and a failure to complete other required actions. The Village will now enforce the zoning and property maintenance codes, as we would anywhere in the Village, to cause the property to be restored to a grass field until a new project begins.

The Village and the owner worked for several years to make the project work, and in the end, obstacles beyond the Village’s control prevented the project from being built. Staff and our contracted legal team spent considerable hours assessing submissions and suggesting revisions to make the project work. Unfortunately, it will likely be many additional months before progress is made on a final development. It will also require the participation of the property owner to move forward.

The news on Villa Avenue, however, is exactly the opposite. Today we are set to approve two ordinances that will set in motion the construction of The Union Apartments. The agenda includes an ordinance to execute a Redevelopment Agreement with the Marquette Real Estate Investments, LLC, and an ordinance to approve the land entitlements that will spell out the zoning, and special use app. This project includes 238 apartments and ground floor commercial.

The Redevelopment Agreement has many checks and balances that ensure that both parties meet their obligations in the agreement. The final agreement to sell General Obligation Bonds is not on the agenda today and will follow in the next month or so. It needs to be timed to coordinate with the closing on the private financing agreements so that the Village funds and the developer funds go into escrow almost simultaneously.

I had a chance to attend the Villa Park Police Department’s annual meeting and awards presentation last Tuesday. Many of the pins handed out were for particular calls or investigations. Listening to the variety of calls and the work done by this group is impressive. Later, I attended the Illinois City Manager’s Association. There was a legislative update from Brad Cole the Executive Director of IML, as well as sessions on dealing with hostility in the workplace, the use of generative and other forms of AI in local government, and a pre-conference workshop on building strong towns. I also met with department heads in the regular Tuesday meeting, and individually. View full report here.

Matt Harline

Village Manager