Hoffman Estates approves expansion of Schaumburg Township parking lot
Hoffman Estates village board members voted 4-1 Monday to allow Schaumburg Township to use a little more than half an acre from the adjacent Maple Park to create 52 more parking spaces for its headquarters at 1 Illinois Blvd.
While the majority concurred with the 9-0 recommendation of the planning & zoning commission that the project would responsibly add needed parking for patrons of the township building, Trustee Gary Stanton said he was persuaded by a couple residents at a committee meeting the week before that creating a parking lot out of Hoffman Estates Park District land wasn't in the best interest of the neighborhood.
Jodie Mitchell, a longtime resident of Illinois Boulevard, had been one of those arguing that better scheduling of township activities would be one way to avoid the destruction of the baseball diamond in Maple Park, as well as some mature trees.
"The ball field is not a programmed field, but that does not mean it is not used by families and their children in our neighborhood," Mitchell cited from her earlier letter to the village board. "This would also add 40 (to) 50 more vehicles to our already congested, overcrowded streets in our subdivision."
But Schaumburg Township Supervisor Mary Wroblewski said the intention of the expanded lot is to bring the often elderly patrons of the building closer to it when they park and avoid their having to cross Illinois Boulevard.
Including the purchase of the land from the park district, the entire project is estimated to cost the township about $500,000, Wroblewski said.
She said she expected the construction to be bid in December, started in April, and completed next summer.
Village Trustee Anna Newell recused herself from Monday's vote because she's an employee of Schaumburg Township. Fellow Trustee Karen Mills was absent from the meeting.