Downers Grove council resumes plans for village complex

After 462 days, the Downers Grove Village Council June 15 held its first meeting without COVID-19-related adjustments, and unanimously agreed to move forward with plans for a new village complex.

The plan the council approved was developed and finalized in late 2019, gaining full support from the previous council just before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. Efforts to get a new complex were halted, however, when the village had to turn its attention to the pandemic.

With many pandemic restrictions lifting and the Illinois vaccination rate rising, the current council had to decide whether to continue with the plan once more.

“None of our needs have changed,” Mayor Bob Barnett said. “They’ve gotten worse in the last 12 to 14 months, and they’re going to get a little worse the next 12 to 14, and … the questions that we have … don’t materially change the way that we go forward.”

Commissioners, new and returning, agreed, deciding that the plan should move forward quickly. Commissioner Greg Hosé said one reason to move forward swiftly would be to readdress previous discussions with partners such as the police department and Downers Grove Grade School District 58.

The original project was estimated to cost between $41 million and $47 million, with $9.2 million coming from the village and a possible $4.4 million contribution from District 58. With that contribution, the district would secure a partnership with the village and the new complex would house village hall, the police department and some District 58 administrative staff.

The timeliness of the partnership with the school district comes from the district’s recent decision to sell the Longfellow property, which currently houses a portion of its administration.

John Miller, a former District 58 School Board member and member of the Citizen Task Force, which worked on the proposal to sell Longfellow, said the possibility of a partnership still exists with Barnett pushing to get the village complex proposal back on track.

“Given the District 58 Longfellow [conversation], I think they would be very interested in talking to us,” Hosé said. “As far as I’m concerned, we should have done this a long time ago, and I think the plan that was put in place … was a good plan and solves an awful lot of problems.”

With inflation and other factors having changed slightly during the course of the pandemic, some numbers in the proposal have been adjusted, said Mike Baker, assistant village manager. Accordingly, the total project cost is now estimated to be between $45 million and $54 million, and the proposed partner contributions have been adjusted consistent with that jump in cost, Baker said.

The village also has more to contribute, Baker said, and is prepared to put $11 million to $13 million into the project. With these adjusted figures, the total bond issue would be roughly $32.6 million, resulting in a $250,000 cost per year for 25 years, Baker said.

“Sure, we have inflation, but we’re also paying for it with inflated dollars,” Commissioner Rich Kulovany said. “It takes maturity and vision to keep moving forward, and [there’s] some level of trust that we have [with] a professional staff [that is] fully capable of doing this. I really think that the community has come along too, and they feel this is well overdue as well.”

Going forward, the Village Council has asked Baker to develop a new timeline for the project, consistent with a 2021 start date.