Economic development, as well as safety, took center stage as officials from La Grange Park presented its 31st Street Transportation Plan while at the same time collecting input from more than 40 people in attendance on what residents would like to see happen there.
The area, roughly from LaGrange Road to Maple Avenue, has long been seen as a district the village wanted to develop into a destination for visitors.
“What we’re trying to do is to get some resident feedback on what we can do to beautify 31st Street, but also make it safe for our residents to patronize the businesses that are here,” said James Discipio, village president.
Discipio spoke Oct. 15 at Fire House No. 2, 1010 E. 31st Street, which is in the heart of the 31st Street Corridor.
The corridor has seen its share of development success in recent years, especially in the restaurant/entertainment sector.
New eateries include Happier Now Market and Cafe, right next door to the fire station at 1016 E. 31st St., and fine dining establishment Posto 31, across the street at 1017 E. 31st Str.
Further east on the corridor is Hop District Brewing, 23 E. 31st St. Hop District is not a restaurant, but patrons can enjoy its home brews while ordering from Mattone, the Italian restaurant next door.
While those establishments have flourished, 31st Street’s narrowness and the lack of parking in the area present challenges to the village’s hopes for further development.
Safety also is a major concern.
“We’re talking about pedestrian and bike safety, because of the traffic,” Discipio said. “As you can see, at rush hour, it’s pretty hazardous to try and cross 31st Street.”
Discipio pointed out that there are limitations to what the village could do in the way of making significant changes to the street.
“It’s not our street,” he said, adding that it is administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation. “So we don’t have the ability to do whatever we want, but we want to work with IDOT, we want to work with the community to see what the community would like to see and what we can basically do so that pedestrians can patronize businesses on both sides and cross safely.”
Discipio said the village is open to any ideas that would make the area safer, whether they be new traffic signals or pedestrian walkways. A parking crunch, he said, is being addressed by a planned lot on property the village purchased at 1024 Newberry Ave.
“We’re open to anything,” he said. “We’ve got some great businesses here, we want to get more businesses here. That means we need parking, so we’ve got the lot coming in, but we want to beautify it, so that people can sit and enjoy a cup of coffee, or ice cream or whatever they’re doing and make it so that it’s safe for them to sit here.”
The Village contracted with consultant Kimley Horn as it devises a plan for the district. The firm has performed consulting work of the same type throughout the Chicago area, including in Northbrook, Aurora, Orland Park, Evanston and Lake County.
At the open house, officials from the company presented several exhibits highlighting possible approaches to deal with heavy traffic and pedestrian safety.
Visitors were interested in solutions to the traffic problems.
“One of the main reasons that I came here tonight was to see if they were planning anything to make Beach Avenue safer,” said Laura Cohen, who lives nearby. “During rush hour people will turn down Beach and tear around the corner on Garfield. … They’re driving way too fast and cutting that corner to the point where they’re in a completely different lane than they should be. It’s really dangerous.”
Regarding what could be done to ease the overflow traffic onto Beach Avenue, Cohen said “they could put up signs to try and stop people from turning during rush hour. … Then maybe occasional police enforcement of that rule.”
Other residents were eager to share their thoughts.
“I would recommend against the bike lanes in the road.” Rich Vaiciulis said. “The street’s already too narrow to maintain two lanes of traffic.”
“I think it’s great to have the open house,” Mark Cohen said. “We need more people in the community to get together to figure out what to do with the final part of La Grange Park.”
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
