The Rundown: Oak Lawn Village Board Green Lights Medical Building, Public Works Projects; Issues Apology

Village board members played nice and used their indoor voices at their second bi-monthly meeting, which was considerably more subdued than the one two weeks ago.

Trustees Jerry Hurckes (1st District) and Tom Phelan (6th District) were absent, but a quorum was present to run through the agenda.

Here are the highlights:

New Medical Building Granted Variances

Village board members approved the consolidation of four lots into one at 6700 W. 95th St., now the site of Bally’s Total Fitness, for construction of a new medical office.

Robert Oldenburg, development director for Irgens Development Partners LLC representing Little Company of Mary Hospital, described plans to relocate the hospital’s urgent care center to the new medical building. Little Company of Mary also plans to put in a state-of-the-art diagnostic center.

The hospital will demolish the existing building and construct a new 3-story building in its place. The building will essentially have the same configurations of the current Bally’s Fitness, with a few variations.

Oldenburg showed renderings of the new 45,000-square-foot, masonry and glass-windowed building  “with nice curb appeal from 95th Street.” The building will follow Green Building Initiatives by utilizing much of the existing pavement and adding landscaping.

A 6-foot-high masonry wall will be installed along the east property line to reduce potential nuisances from patients and employees going to and from the medical building.

The village board approved two variance requests for a setback reduction by two feet and reducing the number of required parking spaces to 172 parking stalls. To accommodate parking needs of the anticipated 65 to 70 employees who will work in the building, the hospital has entered a 50-year lease agreement with the Oak Lawn Park District for 65 parking spaces at Centennial Park.

Oldenburg said construction would begin this summer and expects the building to be completed and occupied by summer 2012.

Summer Public Works Projects

Trustee Bob Streit (3rd District) said that members of the Public Works Committee, including trustees Alex Olejniczak (2nd District) and Carol Quinlan (5th District), unanimously approved engineering services for street resurfacing, alley paving, water main replacement and renovations to sanitary lift stations at its Jan. 12 meeting.

The projects are part of the comprehensive Neighborhood Infrastructural Capital Investment Program and includes 12 miles of street resurfacing, two miles of water main replacement, over two miles of alley paving and renovation of four sanitary lift stations.

The total cost is $12 million.

“We had a very aggressive case because of the deteriorating infrastructure and also to increase job opportunities for residents and stimulate the local economy,” Streit said.

The projects are slated to go out for competitive bidding.

“We’re hoping it will be as competitive as last year’s bidding,” Streit said. “While an aggressive program, good pricing would allow us to get more projects done than the year before.”

Streetlights Wrecked

This month’s blizzard has wrecked havoc on village streetlights, said Trustee Tom Duhig (4th District).

Oak Lawn Public Works has repaired 50 streetlights since the huge snowfall. Duhig asked for residents’ patience because of a shortage of replacement parts. Those parts are on order.

“I just want residents to know that we’re on top of it,” Duhig said.

An Apology

Trustee Carol Quinlan (5th District) for village board members’ behavior at the Feb. 8 meeting and proposed a refresher course for fellow board members in Roberts Rules of Order.

“I personally want to apologize to the residents of Oak Lawn for the behavior of this board at our last meeting,” Quinlan said. “I’ll speak for myself: I was very embarrassed by it.”

Quinlan asked the village board to set aside time for a special meeting to review Roberts Rules of Order and to work out its differences not in front of residents.

“I don’t think anybody cares to hear this board debate and argue how we did two weeks ago,” Quinlan said.

Robust Consent Agenda

The Oak Lawn Village Board approved a robust consent containing 21 items with no rancor or debate.