Northfield getting closer to more parking for its main business district

Northfield’s long-standing goal of converting a vacant piece of land into a parking lot may finally be achieved after the Village Board approved an agreement with a design firm.

The $34,000 agreement with Wight & Company, of Darien, for design services was unanimously approved by trustees during the Village Board’s meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Village Manager Patrick Brennan said it has been a goal of the village to develop the vacant lot near its business district at Orchard Lane and Willow Road into a parking lot for at least three years.

Brennan said the land was originally owned by the state, which then transferred it to Cook County, and “the state put a criteria in that said they get the right of first refusal on the use of that parcel.”

He described the land as “a vestige of the Edens (Expressway).”

Brennan said that for the past few years Northfield staff have been working with officials from the county and state to obtain their permission to develop the lot, and that reportedly has been achieved.

In his memo to the board, Brennan went into further detail about the project. He said the $34,000 will be divided over three phases: developing a conceptual layout for the lot, which will be presented to neighboring land owners for discussion; preparing construction documents, which could show either a standalone lot or a master plan with “two contiguous private parking lots”; and hiring construction management services for the project scope.

Brennan added that the parking lot is planned to feature porous brick pavers.

In response to a question from Trustee Andrew Juedes, Brennan said the neighboring property owners have said they’re interested in the project and there is a chance that they may end up financially contributing to the project, but it’s too early for that decision to be made.

“They’re definitely interested in learning about what we can do to jointly stripe that lot,” Brennan said.

Trustee Ed Elfmann asked Brennan about the maintenance of the parking lot, specifically surrounding the pavers.

Brennan said when he was the village manager in Kenilworth, three streets were completed with pavers, which he said are “performing very well.” He said those pavers are L-shaped and “interlock” with each other.

“So if the base settles a little bit, it’s locked into the one next to it, and it’s a lot harder for it to rotate out and be caught by a snowplow,” said Brennan, adding that he plans on asking Kenilworth for the specifications they used for their pavers.

Pam Papadatos, the owner of neighboring Metamorphosis Spa, a business nearby the lot, asked that drainage be addressed when the lot is built.

She said the existing lot has issues with standing water that sometimes spills over into the parking spaces in front of her spa.

Brennan said the flooding may be caused by water flowing from the Edens entrance ramp, but said because the parcel is owned by the county, the village can’t do anything on its own.

“We’re not supposed to change the natural flow of water without going through a process,” he said. “But as we start the design work, we’ll be happy to look at it and see what we can do.”

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