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Mount Prospect will renew Prospect Avenue alfresco experience

Pleased with the results of last summer’s alfresco dining pilot program on Prospect Avenue, Mount Prospect will renew the program this year.

Mount Prospect Community Development Director Jason Shallcross said it will run from the beginning of May until the end of September.

Shallcross said the pilot was a success, benefiting both restaurants on the block and surrounding businesses. This was shown, he said, by an uptick in sales taxes compared with the previous year.

However, it also drew complaints from neighboring businesses. They were upset that parking spaces in the middle of the 100 block of West Prospect Avenue were blocked off by a barrier enabling extra seating.

One business, Synergy Fitness Studio, complained the barrier blocked access to the business entrance.

When Shallcross explained the plan for the summer at a meeting of business people on the block Wednesday at Lady Dahlia Mexican Kitchen, some attendees revived grievances from last year. Among them were lack of parking for older customers, smoking outside their businesses and garbage piling up because the barrier interfered with street cleaning.

But one supporter, Rob Salerno, owner of Salerno’s Pizza and Whiskey Hill Brewery & Kitchen, defended the program.

“It is so critical to restaurants to have alfresco outdoor dining today more than ever,” he said.

Shallcross said the village has worked to increase parking capacity, striping 92 stalls on Prospect between Pine Street and Central Road. It has also leased 40 spaces for public parking after 5 p.m. at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 200 S. Wille St. He said the village has opened up the Wille Street lot for employee parking.

“We have really tried to be responsive to your concerns about the parking availability on Prospect,” he said.

He said the village is open to posting banners of businesses on the barrier and publicizing them in the village’s newsletter.

“I just wanted to thank you for acknowledging that we need to build a little bit more community,” said Darlene Joyce of Mosaic Yarn Studio.

  Mount Prospect’s alfresco dining pilot project launched last summer. Some businesses like Synergy Fitness Studio claim the barrier blocking off parking spaces on Prospect Avenue affected their customers. Steve Zalusky/szalusky@dailyherald.com
  Mount Prospect Community Development Director Jason Shallcross talks to Prospect Avenue business owners Wednesday about plans to build on the village’s alfresco dining program this year. Steve Zalusky/szalusky@dailyherald.com
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