D97 Plans to Nix Village Hall Building Option

Can you help Oak Park-River Forest Patch reach 1,550 Facebook fans? Like our page here! 

---------

A resolution to scrap the idea of building a new administration building on the Village Hall parking lot is on the agenda for the Jan. 14 meeting of the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 Board of Education.

The district announced last month it would nix the option at the Jan. 14 meeting unless village officials gave some kind of indication that they'd support the project. According to the meeting document, the Village Board has not given any reasons the project would benefit the village. 

District 97 Spokesman Chris Jasculca wrote in an email Monday that Village President Anan Abu-Taleb has expressed publicly that he would like more time to study the idea of constructing a new facility on the parking lot of Village Hall. 

"While we certainly understand and appreciate the Village's desire to further study this option, it has not provided us with a compelling argument or information about how it will benefit Oak Park from an economic standpoint," he wrote. "Therefore, after a year of exploring this concept, our board will make a decision tomorrow night about whether to remove it from consideration."

Regardless of the vote, however, Jasculca added that the district will continue to work with the village and other local governing bodies to identify ways to work together.

Jasculca said last month that the district has worked with the village to study the Village Hall option, with the idea that it could help advance the Madison Street Plan and spur economic growth and development.

But after Abu-Taleb at a joint District 97-Village Board meeting in December gave an opening statement that had a "noticeable lack of affirmation" of the district's reasons for studying the location, district officials have decided it could be time to move on, according to a news release from District 97. 

The district based the idea of building on the Village Hall lot on a goal of the village's 2006 Madison Street Plan to "Integrate the Village Hall into a civic campus by using the existing surface parking lot and open space," and the village's financial projections showing that redeveloping the district's current administration building at 970 Madison St. would be financially beneficial to the community, according to the release.

District 97 is also considering moving its administrative offices to the proposed Madison Highlands office building, 101 Madison St., or a warehouse at 541 Madison St. They could also rebuild, rent during a transition period, or move away from Madison Street, according to the district's presentation at the meeting. 

About 50 people attended the Dec. 14 meeting and voiced their opposition to the idea, according to a Wednesday Journal report.

Neighbors said that area of Oak Park, the neighborhood south of 123 Madison St., is too congested, and is a residential neighborhood, not a "government campus," according to the Journal.

Repairs to Oak Park Elementary School District 97's administration building could cost almost $3 million, according to a report from architecture firm STR Partners. STR Partners in November shared a comprehensive report on the administration building at 970 Madison St., as well as a building capacity study, an accessibility study and an air conditioning study. Read more here. 

Thoughts? Tell us in the comments below.