Glen Ellyn village president candidates debate downtown's future

In downtown Glen Ellyn, more than 240 apartments are in some stage of construction, planning or leasing to new residents.

Voters in next month's election will choose a new village president who will help guide that growth spurt and plot the future of housing and business development downtown for the next four years.

The candidates for the top village post have laid out different perspectives on the building activity and efforts to retain Glen Ellyn's historic atmosphere and New England flavor.

When their tenures overlapped on the village board, Trustee Mark Senak and his opponent, former Trustee Pete Ladesic, also took opposing stances on a contentious redevelopment project now under construction at Main Street and Hillside Avenue.

Ladesic contends the pace of growth lags behind that of other towns, while Senak says the village needs a clearer understanding of any growing pains associated with development.

"My view of this right now is we need to take a breath and see how our village absorbs the 260 some units that we've put online," Senak said during an endorsement interview with the Daily Herald. "I'd like to see the way the infrastructure responds to it. I'd like to see the way the traffic patterns develop."

In his reelection campaign for his trustee seat, Senak called for using available parcels for a piazza, instead of more apartments, in the central business district. He's floated that idea again in the race for village president.

"For my purpose, given what we've added to the downtown, I'd like to see us start to look at some green space in the downtown and really develop an area where we have sort of a community gathering place," Senak said.

Senak also supports using tax increment financing money to incentivize developers to create buildings that "are more consistent with the architecture of the downtown" and its historic feel.

In a TIF district, as redevelopment boosts property values, the extra tax revenue that otherwise would go to taxing bodies such as schools and parks can be used to pay for improvements in the area.

"If there's something that I think that the village would benefit from in terms of designer style, I have no problem, and I don't think any of the residents do, paying for it," Senak said.

Ladesic said he opposes restricting architectural styles used by developers "who are taking the risks investing" in Glen Ellyn.

"The balance of development and maintaining history, you can certainly have both," the homebuilder said. "That happens all over the country. It's happened in Glen Ellyn since our founding."

Ladesic also spoke out against the idea of pigeonholing Glen Ellyn into being the "Tudor village" or the "Swiss chalet village."

"It doesn't work because the people that are moving into these units, they actually appreciate the more contemporary architectural styles that are being built around the country."

Ladesic agrees that growth should be measured, but said the village has fallen behind many of its peer communities when it comes to transit-oriented developments that bring new residents and customers for restaurants and retailers.

Among the projects in the works is a $30 million apartment building that will add 86 units near the Metra tracks. That site, a former grocery store, has sat vacant for more than six years.

Ideally, Ladesic said, the village parking garage now being built behind the Civic Center should have gone up across the street at the U.S. Bank site within steps of the Metra station. "I pushed that issue when I was on the board," said Ladesic, who served three terms. "And then it kind of fell on its face after I got off the board, but to me, it's really disheartening ... that the questions weren't being asked to find out if we could get that property sooner."

Senak preferred the Civic Center site in part to help minimize the obtrusiveness of the five-level parking structure. But Ladesic said having a parking garage at the U.S. Bank property could have tied in with plans to build a new Metra station and pedestrian underpass.