Lombard ready for addition to historical society museum

Come November, the carriage house behind the Lombard Historical Society’s Victorian Cottage Museum should double in size and be more easily accessible to people with disabilities.

A contract the village board approved Thursday night for an addition creating new exhibit space, classrooms and accessible restrooms will make the transformation possible.

And so will the village’s commitment to pay for the $120,500 contract up front, allowing the historical society to cover costs before receiving a $70,000 grant promised from the state.

The village funding will put the project on the fast track, with a Nov. 5 projected completion date, Public Works Director Carl Goldsmith said. Construction must be finished by Dec. 31 for the historical society to receive the full $70,000 from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Public Museum Capital Grant.

Lombard initially will provide the $120,500 from the downtown tax increment financing district and will be paid back under a two-year loan the historical society, historical commission and village approved in February.

Village Manager David Hulseberg assured the board the TIF has plenty available to provide the loan.

The formula governing how TIF district funding is distributed recently was rewritten and approved by all the taxing bodies affected, Hulseberg said. And for the village, that means more money — about $6 million in additional funding over the next 12 years.

“I’m very pleased to announce to the board there will be more than adequate dollars over the next 12 years to do a number of projects,” Hulseberg said.

Aside from initially loaning the historical society funds for the 1,200-square-foot, two-story addition, the village also is lending support by putting $81,000 that will not be reimbursed toward utilities, sidewalks and curb cuts, and fire and burglar alarms.

The source for that funding will be discussed at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, June 7. Pushing that decision back will give the finance committee and economic and community development committee time to evaluate how the TIF money should be spent.

“It would be a more prudent course to withhold the source of funding debate until at least our next meeting,” Trustee Peter Breen said. “If we’re going to tap a large amount of money from the downtown TIF, that should be considered closely.”

Trustee Zachary Wilson said the issue of how to allocate downtown TIF money is broader than the question of how to fund the carriage house addition. TIF money must be spent on certain expenses within downtown Lombard because it came from taxes paid on increases in assessed value of properties in the district.

“I do believe the issue here is discussing the overall TIF funding source,” Wilson said, “And how each individual project is going to impact it.”