Parking work begins at Palatine's village hall

The $12.7 million renovation of Palatine's village hall wraps up in June, and this week crews have begun improving the surrounding pavement, including the pedestrian crossings on Wood Street and the parking lots around the building.

One big change set to be completed in the next two to three weeks will be the elimination of the diagonal street parking on the south side of Wood Street in front of the village hall, located at 200 E. Wood St.

"The street gets so congested," said Village Manager Reid Ottesen Monday night. "The less cars we have parking on the street and the more we can get into the parking lots, the better,"

Other measures that Ottesen said will improve pedestrian safety include extending the curb further into the street, which makes the cross walks shorter. The village council voted unanimously Monday night to spend $60,000 from the project's contingency fund to resurface the village hall parking lot. According to village documents, the village will save $3,000 by doing their work at the same time the Park District resurfaces the parking lot east of the Community Center. The two municipalities each operate out of the Wood Street building, which was originally Palatine High School when it was built in 1952. Ottesen said work on the parking lots began Monday. The majority of the work on the village's side of the building is done. Ottesen said workers are finishing with the building's exterior aluminum trim. Inside the inside all of the walls are in and workers are installing wiring and painting.

"We hope to have it turned over to us in the beginning of June," Ottesen said. "Then we'll have all the furniture installation and just finishing it all up."

Ottesen said village staff expects to begin operating out of the building once more on June 27. They have been working out of the temporary village hall at 150 W. Wilson St. since September 2014.