Candidates: Winfield should work with CDH to develop downtown
Village officials should work with Central DuPage Hospital to spark commercial development in downtown Winfield, hopefuls in next month's village board race say.
Town center has the potential to generate needed revenue for the village if it's commercially developed, said Dennis Hogan, one of eight candidates seeking election on April 7 to three seats on the village board. The hospital, meanwhile, is running out of room on its campus.
"We have an aging town center," Hogan said. "The hospital needs office space off campus and it needs parking ... I think we both can benefit by working with each other. We can work with them to develop town center, beautify town center ... (and) give them the office space they need."
The seven other candidates in the race are Robert Greer, Bob Borsodi, Carl Sorgatz, Rob Hanlon, incumbent Jim Hughes, incumbent Tony Reyes and Jay Olson, who is a former trustee.
Greer, who is running on a slate with Hogan, agrees that the village needs to work with CDH to improve the downtown area.
"I would be happy to provide them (CDH) with the parking that they need for their campus," Greer said. "But I also want to see the town center developed. I think we could do it together if we work harmoniously and negotiate together and understand that we both have mutual needs."
Hanlon said downtown doesn't have enough vehicular traffic to inspire developers to invest millions of dollars for a project. That could change if the hospital is involved.
"If we can get the hospital excited ... you've got some potential," Hanlon said. "But we have to repair our relationship with the hospital first."
Hughes said village and hospital officials talked last summer about a possible development plan for the part of town center located north of the train tracks. But Hughes said those discussions "fell apart."
"Once the election is over, I think we could get back to work on that," he said.
Hughes stressed the hospital wouldn't be expected to construct any buildings, but it could agree to occupy part of a new structure.
"That's when a developer is going to come to town and pay for it (a project)," Hughes said.
Candidates said new office buildings in the downtown could generate sales tax revenue if they include retail on the first floor.
"It's a very good opportunity for a developer who wanted to go multistory and do shops on the lower levels," said Reyes, who is running on a slate with Hanlon and Olson. "That's what we're looking for in the town center."
However, Reyes said, it's up to village officials to make it easier for developers to do business in Winfield.
Olson agrees the village needs to become more development friendly.
"We need a collaborative voice in a role that focuses on development and economic development," said Olson, adding Winfield might need to hire a professional to serve that role.
Sorgatz said various people - including local business leaders - should be consulted so Winfield could have a broad discussion about what could be done to make town center work. Still, he stressed, village must work with the hospital.
"We need to get that going so we could develop the kind of relationship with the hospital to assist us in moving forward with the development in the downtown area," Sorgatz said. "Because that's going to be key and critical to making that whole area work."