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Hinsdale Village Board Among other business Tuesday, trustees • voted 5-0 against a request for a special use permit and an exterior appearance site plan for Lakeside Bank to build a two-story facility with a drive-through at 222 E. Ogden Ave., immediately east of the Shell gas station. The Hinsdale Plan Commission had voted 8-0 to recommend approval of the project, but trustees said they did not think it was the best use of the property. They would like to see more retail businesses along that stretch of Ogden Avenue, and ha...
Hinsdale Village Board Among other business Tuesday, trustees: • approved the use of Motor Fuel Tax Funds to pay for infrastructure improvements. The actions include using $995,000 to pay for the reconstruction of Eighth Street from Garfield Street to County Line Road; the use of $398,000 to partially fund the 2021 Chicago Avenue Resurfacing Project, with a total cost estimate of $930,000 (the remaining $532,000 will be paid for with federal Surface Transportation Fund; and the use of $400,000 to partially fund the 2021 M...
Hinsdale residents will see three contested races when they head to the polls to elect village, school and library board members on Tuesday, April 6. A total of 22 candidates are running for 11 open seats on two school boards and the library board. The village president and village board races are not contested. District 181 In Community Consolidated District 181, five people have filed for three open four-year terms on the board, according to the DuPage County clerk’s office. They are incumbent Bill Cotter and newcomers J...
To make the most of Hinsdale’s prime and precious commercial property, village officials are keen to embrace businesses that contribute to the sales tax coffers. Firms like Lakeside Bank, which has applied for a special use permit to open a branch at 222 E. Ogden Ave., do not get the welcome mat treatment in an effort to protect the high-traffic Ogden corridor for retail merchants rich in revenue. At the Dec. 8 village board meeting, trustees discussed both the bank’s application and the overarching desire to rewrite the zon...
Due to the pandemic, Hinsdale’s revenues declined by $1.9 million in 2020. Sales tax, food and beverage tax and parking permit revenues all declined dramatically. Fortunately, years of prudent financial management paid off in 2020. Despite the $1.9 million revenue decline, we maintained the same level of police, fire and public works services residents have come to expect. Moreover, we will end 2020 with a reserve balance of $8.2 million, which represents 43 percent of the village’s annual operating expenses. In other wor...
Hinsdale officials say they will finish the 2020 fiscal year with a surplus despite tax revenues coming in nearly $1 million under budget. At a committee of the whole meeting Dec. 3, trustees and members of the village’s finance commission reviewed 2020 economic numbers and the impact that the pandemic has had on the village’s tax receipts. Sales tax revenue had been forecast to be about $2.95 million for the year, but is now projected to be just under $2.6 million. Village finance director Darrell Langlois said the impact fr...
The village of Hinsdale has been sued by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Fair Housing Act for its effort to prohibit Trinity Sober Living from operating a group home in town. In its complaint filed Nov. 24 with the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois, the DOJ alleges that the village’s actions “constitute a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights granted by the Fair Housing Act, or a denial of rights protected by the Fair Housing Act to a group of persons.” Trinity Sober...
Customized retaining walls for the entrance to the proposed pedestrian bridge would cost Hinsdale about $25,000, or so village trustees thought. At Tuesday night’s village board meeting via Zoom, board members learned that patterning the walls after those that flank the Oak Street bridge spanning the BNSF Railroad came with an estimated $38,400 price tag due to the need for special form liners and a premium for the village’s desired stain color. The bridge, to be constructed along the north side of 47th Street between Hin...
Hinsdale Village Board Among other business Nov. 3, trustees: • adopted a 2020 property tax levy of $10,882,381 • awarded the design and construction observation engineering phases of the 2021 Eighth Street reconstruction project to Rempe-Sharpe in an amount not to exceed $127,748. Eighth Street will be reconstructed in asphalt from Garfield Avenue to County Line Road as part of the Master Infrastructure Plan. The water main between Oak Street and County Line Road also will be replaced. • approved the $36,573 purchase of on...
It’s hard to imagine 2020 could get any scarier than it already is. But the never-ending pandemic will not deter us from our annual Halloween tradition of imagining a Hinsdale that is significantly more frightening than the one we know and love. So, with Oct. 31 just two days away, we share our visions of events we would be scared to see in town. • the U.S. Department of Education discontinues the National Blue Ribbon School program before all nine schools in Community Consolidated District 181 are able to earn the honor (th...
Hinsdale Village Board Among other business Tuesday night, trustees: • extended permission for restaurants to continue outdoor dining on village right-of-way and other public and private space to June 30, 2021 • deleted an ordinance imposing a motor fuel tax in the Cook County portion of Hinsdale after the Illinois Department of Revenue informed the village the new tax must apply to all of Hinsdale. Trustees intended to apply the tax only to the Hinsdale Oasis. Village officials said they are asking legislators to revise the...
For the second time in less than a month, a proposed planned development along the north side of Ogden Avenue in northwest Hinsdale has been rejected. At Tuesday’s village board meeting, developer Ryan Companies withdrew its concept for 240-unit assisted living facility and 27 independent living villas on 32.5 acres at Ogden and Adams Street after trustees deferred to residents’ concerns over the project’s density and traffic impact. “The current design is too far off from what is going to be acceptable to people for us to m...
As the Hinsdale Plan Commission unanimously rejected one development proposed for a portion of the IBLP property on Ogden Avenue, the Hinsdale Village Board is poised to send them another. Hinsdale trustees Tuesday discussed a revised proposal from Ryan Companies for a 240-unit senior living facility on 32.5 acres at Ogden and Adams Street. The existence of two separate proposals for two separate areas of the Institute of Basic Life Principles property has confused some...
A used electric vehicle dealership could soon be pulling into Hinsdale. At Tuesday’s Hinsdale Village Board meeting, trustees heard about a plan to open Current Automotive at 300 E. Ogden Ave., the former home of Bill Jacobs Land Rover, which is affiliated with the prospective business. The Land Rover dealership moved next door to 336 E. Ogden last year, but Bill Jacobs still has control over the old site through its lease. Kevin Jacobs of the Bill Jacobs Auto Family said Current Automotive already operates a dealership in N...
Hinsdale trustees have put to rest the idea of temporary ban on historic home teardowns. But village officials continue to explore ways to promote preservation of its vintage structures. At Tuesday night’s meeting, trustees voted 5-1 against the proposed 180-day moratorium, having previously expressed strong reservations about restricting property rights in the name of saving historic homes. Trustee Scott Banke cast the lone dissenting vote. The village’s plan commission last month recommended against the moratorium, a sug...
After asking the Hinsdale Plan Commission to consider a moratorium on the demolition of historic homes, most Hinsdale trustees are no longer interested in imposing one. Following hours of public comment during three virtual hearings on June 10, 24 and 30, commissioners voted 4-2 not to recommend the moratorium to the Hinsdale Village Board. “The whole purpose of the moratorium was (to allow) a standstill while we took action on the part of Title 14 that relates to demolitions,” Village President Tom Cauley said at the Jul...
Parking deck opens today — Village President Tom Cauley cuts the ribbon opening the new parking deck on Garfield Avenue near First Street with the help of assistant village manager Brad Bloom (from left), Trustee Scott Banke, state Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton, Trustee Neale Byrnes, Trustee Matt Posthuma, Trustee Luke Stifflear and village engineer Dan Deeter. The $9 million project — a cooperative effort between the village and Community Consolidated Elementary District 181...
After decades of debates about parking solutions, years of negotiation between the village and District 181, months of construction - and a global pandemic thrown in for good measure - Hinsdale finally has a parking deck. The new facility on Garfield Avenue just south of First Street opened today, July 16. "We are very pleased with the outcome and very happy that we could provide this much-needed amenity to the village," village manager Kathleen Gargano said. Village...
“Bueller? Bueller?” The Zoom public hearing about a potential moratorium on the demolition of historic homes reminded us a little of the film classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” as Hinsdale Plan Commission Chairman Steve Cashman often had to repeatedly call out names of residents when it was their turn to give public comment. We certainly hope Zoom public hearings will soon be a thing of the past, but the format did give an unusually large number of people a voice in this debate. And we heard the same message over and over:...
A week before plan commissioners finished their deliberations on a proposed moratorium to stop the demolition of historic homes, Village President Tom Cauley presented a draft ordinance designed to help preserve such homes. The draft is actually a revision to Title 14 of the village code, which covers historic preservation. The new language offers several incentives to homeowners who want to renovate a historic home, including an exemption from floor-area ratio requirements (which regulate the size of a home relative to the...
Community Consolidated District 181 Among other business Monday, board members: • approved the three-year purchase of the Actively Learn digital curriculum platform for middle school language arts classes at a cost of $43,120. Actively Learn will be implemented during the 2020-21 school year after having been piloted at Hinsdale and Clarendon middle schools from January to March. Officials said the resource will support literacy instruction at the schools and provides pre-existing content and the ability for teachers to u...
The Hinsdale Community Pool is poised to open next week after village officials determined the potential loss in revenue from COVID-19 restrictions was outweighed by the community benefit the facility provides. Heather Bereckis, superintendent of parks and recreation, said June 22 is the target date for opening, provided all preparations have been completed. With Illinois under Phase 3 guidelines at least until June 26, the pool will be available only for swim clubs and lap swimming. If the state does move into Phase 4 next...
Historic Preservation Month typically comes and goes without controversy. Past commemorations have included coloring contests for kids and the presentation of awards from the Hinsdale Historic Preservation Commission. We’ve published everything from a single article or editorial to a month-long series reminding residents of the architectural treasures the village is fortunate to have within its boundaries. This year the discussion around historic preservation has reached a fevered pitch. Many preservations argue the only w...
Beep, beep, beep. Let’s back up a bit. Despite the media hype that might suggest otherwise, Hinsdale will not offer outdoor dining on its downtown streets in the near future. Village officials are not planning to violate Gov. JB Pritzker’s five-phase plan to Restore Illinois. What they are doing is starting a conversation about steps the village could take to expand restaurant capacity once eateries are allowed to reopen in phase 4. Many expect that won’t happen until the end of June at the earliest, but the time to plan is n...
To help village restaurants recover from the economic hardship wrought by COVID-19, Hinsdale officials are considering converting central business district streets this summer to al fresco dining corridors. At Tuesday night’s village board meeting, Village President Tom Cauley credited village manager Kathleen Gargano with, shortly before the meeting, floating the idea of shutting off First Street between Garfield Avenue and Washington Street to vehicle traffic so the area can instead be used for outdoor dining. This will e...
