Glenview news in 60 seconds
Drawing raves
The news came across Tuesday night, and with it kudos for Glenview Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Betsy Baer, who has announced that after 10 years in the post she'll be stepping down in March.
"Betsy was the architect that helped the chamber realize its potential within the business community and beyond," chamber President Chris Falcon said in a news release.
"The stability established under her leadership will continue to serve all that live and work in Glenview for years to come."
Under Baer's leadership over the past decade, chamber membership doubled to more than 560 members. Some of her achievements as executive director included the redesign of chamber communications, organizing an expanded Glenview holiday celebration, initiating the training program Leadership Glenview, providing the chamber's first drive-in movies and, yes, bringing free ice cream to the Glenview Summer Fest.
Crafting sponsorships to enhance civic events were among her strengths.
"Glenview is a different place since Betsy first joined us," said Glenview Chamber immediate past President Karen Patterson. "Her vision of a vibrant, welcoming hometown has brought neighbors closer to Glenview's businesses, and our businesses closer to each other."
Taking on a new role as deputy executive director will be current membership director Meghan Kearney, a four-year chamber veteran.
Armed with a background in recruiting, she used those versatile skills and strategies this past year to navigate the COVID environment, including helping business owners apply for CARES Act funds, while also increasing chamber membership.
"I'm thrilled to be taking on this role within a community that my family calls home," Kearney said.
Movement
The Glenview Park District has added services following the village and suburban Cook County moving into Tier 1 COVID-19 resurgence mitigations.
In the Glenview Community Ice Center, 1851 Landwehr Road, hockey programs and affiliate rentals may begin intrasquad scrimmages. A limited number of spectators - one immediate family member or guardian per participant - will be allowed inside.
Park Center Health & Fitness allows 50% capacity per time block. Indoor fitness classes have resumed, and its aqua fitness classes will return Feb. 1.
Tier 1 allows indoor dining at restaurants. Coarse Italian Restaurant, 800 Shermer Road at Glenview Park Golf Club, will offer indoor dining from 4-9 p.m., with reservations strongly recommended.
Glenview Park District rental facilities can now host event reservations for up to 25 people.
Other things have opened up in park district properties. For more information for the programs now open, visit www.glenviewparks.org.
More good news
The Glenview Park District will offer a Super Bowl-themed tailgate party at the golf club, in the parking lot, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, rain, snow or shine. Spots are limited.
The cost of "Glenview's Greatest Tailgate Party" is $149 per car, with a maximum of six people per car. Participants will receive a bucket of chicken wings, pizza, beer, soda and water. Additional food and beverages will be available for purchase. There's also a burger-cooking contest, with limited entries.
People can bring their tailgate gear, footballs, baggo, chairs, napkins, grills, food to cook, etc. Plans include kids' games, a punt, pass and kick competition, and football highlights on a big video board.
Cars will park at a safe distance from each other, sanitation stations will be set up around the parking lot, with restrooms available in the clubhouse.
For details or to purchase tickets, visit www.glenviewparks.org/event; information is on the calendar for Feb. 6.
Double triple
Jeanne Harman and Jennifer Quintas were both hired by Wesley Child Care Center, 727 Harlem Ave., on the same day in 1991. On Jan. 7, both of them celebrated 30-year work anniversaries.
Harman is Wesley's preschool director and Quintas its multisite school-age director, though they've held multiple positions over their three decades of service.
"Their commitment to our organization and the community is quite extraordinary," Wesley Executive Director Craig Solomon stated in a release.
The Wesley Child Care board of directors will salute the two women at their annual recognition ceremony this fall.
Glenview Connect
The next virtual open house of the Glenview Connect process will be 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3. The topic of the meeting is to discuss how to balance desires for growth in the village with financial feasibility, while maintaining Glenview's small-town charm.
A Zoom link and instructions for people to contribute should be found on the website glenviewconnect.com.
Heirloom vegetables
The Northbrook Garden Club will meet virtually at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2. Heirloom vegetables carry stories of the past and the people who grew them. Unlock a bit of local food and garden history and learn what may have been growing in Chicago area gardens 125 years ago, as well as what "heirloom" vegetables and flowers are available to us today. To join this 40-minute Zoom presentation given by Lisa Hilgenberg, register at nbkgardenclub@gmail.com.
Author virtual visit
Willowbrook School's fourth- and fifth-grade students get to meet New York Times bestselling children's author Alan Gratz in a virtual event Feb. 8.
Librarian April Eichmiller arranged the virtual visit with the Tennessee native, who will deliver a presentation on how he does research, his creative process, his career and the latest of his 17 books for young readers, "Ground Zero."
Gratz, who lives in North Carolina, wrote a book called "Refugee" in 2017 that was on The New York Times bestseller list for more than two years and won 14 state awards.
Addressing attics
Tom Poupard, the Village of Northbrook's director of development and planning services, is retiring Jan. 29 after 31 years. Helping engineer things like the village's Affordable Housing Plan in December, his career is winding down as some longtime goals are being realized. He presented another of them at its meeting Tuesday night, how to treat unfinished attic spaces in Northbrook homes.
"I will say it's a problem that we've been trying to come to grips with for awhile," he said.
In Northbrook there is a floor area ratio limit of 40%; for a lot of 12,000 square feet, a home should be no more than 4,800 square feet. Attic spaces are not included in that square footage, and most homes go right up to that floor area ratio, Poupard explained, so the village can't issue building permits for an improvement to the attic.
Should a resident wish to do something with a larger space above a garage, for example, the options are to leave it unfinished, use it as storage or convert it without a permit and risk building something that is not inspected and potentially unsafe. This frustrates some Northbrook residents.
The village's Architectural Control Commission reviewed this matter and endorsed several concepts to be added to the zoning code, reviewed at Tuesdays village board meeting.
Key facets included using only attic space that was 7 feet wide and 7 feet tall to be used in the floor area. Using lots of 15,000 feet as a threshold, an additional 400 square feet of attic space - provided the 7-foot dimensions apply - could be added to the floor area ratio.
The Architectural Control Commission recommended a new definition of attic should be added to the zoning code. The board, on the path toward its affordable housing plan, had prior meetings discussing accessory dwellings. Trustee Muriel Collison said these attic spaces should be considered "hand in hand" with those.
The board believed this topic should proceed and, as Village President Sandy Frum said, it's "on to the Plan Commission with this."
Very long arm of the law
The Northbrook Village board also approved a resolution honoring telecommunicator Mike Nicholson for his 39 years of service in the Northbrook Police Department. His long career, beginning in the analog era, even included aiding the FBI by checking on a Columbian narcotics cartel.
Much of his time, though, was spent in the daily business of helping people calling in to the police as a public safety telecommunicator. Hired by the Northbrook department in 1981 out of the Glenbrook Fire Protection District, Nicholson's work in Northbrook began in a department that offered two consoles and a punch card data collection system. It ends as the department uses a computer aided dispatch system.
Along the way, he finished first in his class in the Illinois State Police Law Enforcement Agencies Data System program. He also served on the Northbrook Police Department's Award Review Committee and received awards and complimentary letters from Northbrook and other communities.
His personal file, the resolution stated, included recognition for superior work helping during severe winter storms, tracking down stolen vehicles and making presentations on counterfeit money and credit cards - and assisting that FBI task force in identifying people associated with a Columbian drug cartel.