Lincolnwood Village Board of Trustees meeting on 1-17
by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
The Lincolnwood Village Board of Trustees at a brief meeting on Jan. 17 accepted the village’s strategic plan, which outlines objectives for Lincolnwood in 2017-19.
The plan states that the village is committed to a business-friendly environment with a fiscally sound government that engages the community while providing ethical and professional services.
The plan also states that many Lincolnwood residents who stay in the village because of strong property values, a variety of housing and vital neighborhoods. The village government offers public services in a fiscally responsible manner with attractive tax rates, according to the plan.
The plan states that the village’s strengths include educated constituents, experienced staff, good schools, a diverse population, efficient government and quality public services. Weaknesses include the lack of a village center, unresolved development of the former Purple Hotel site at Lincoln and Touhy avenues, purchasing water from Chicago, storm water management, noise from O’Hare International Airport and a lack of public transportation.
Threats to the village include the economy, increasing crime in neighboring towns, maintenance of village-owned properties, failure to enforce property maintenance codes and insufficient engagement of community and staff in decision making, according to the plan.
The plan states that the village should pursue the redevelopment of the Purple Hotel site, creating a village center, future home development, property development at Hamlin and Lincoln avenues, the Devon/Lincoln Tax Increment Financing District for retail and residential uses, marketing, the Touhy/Lincoln/Cicero triangle redevelopment and reassessing parking requirements for commercial development for improving traffic flow.
Also, the village plans to facilitate hotel development along Cicero Avenue, create a plan to develop north Lincolnwood, develop the Brickyard Bank property at 6676 N. Lincoln Ave., the drive-through site at Republic Bank at 4433 W. Touhy Ave. and the Touhy Avenue corridor.
The village also plans to attract grocery stores, market the village to identify development sites and desired uses, find a new water supplier, complete its storm water pilot project and determine future steps of storm water management, and define a baseline for noise from O’Hare and show measured progress on noise abatement.
The village is continuing work on completing bicycle path connections, and it will begin construction of the overpass bridge over Touhy Avenue this year and complete the shared emergency dispatch center this year and develop a public transportation plan for Devon Avenue.
Also at the meeting, the board authorized the village manager to execute an agreement with the owner of the property at 7155 N. Kedvale Ave. for the village’s street light replacement project.
The trustees approved a $1,145,720 contract with H&H Electric for street light improvements on May 17. The project includes replacing lights on Touhy Avenue between Cicero Avenue and Karlov Avenue and retrofitting lights on Touhy between Karlov Avenue and Hamlin Avenue.
The agreement with the property owner on an easement allows a light to be installed in accordance with Illinois Department of Transportation guidelines on the distance from the curb to avoid it being struck by a vehicle.
