Local village officials share 2020 experiences, 2021 outlook

Since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic in March, our local communities have been transformed in ways previously unimaginable.

Traditional events from Christmas walks and summer concert series to the Hinsdale Fourth of July parade were canceled, while parking spaces and portions of streets were converted into outdoor dining spaces to accommodate local restaurants.

Municipal leaders have been at the forefront of the local response to the pandemic, from monitoring the spread of the disease within their jurisdictions, to surveying the impacts of restrictions on small businesses.

“In my lifetime, we have 9/11 to remember; we have Kennedy’s [assassination]; and now we have the 2020 pandemic,” Burr Ridge mayor Gary Grasso said. “In my generation, I think those are the three dates that will stand out.”

Grasso said he believes Burr Ridge’s

BY MIKE ELLIS

pandemic experience has been comparable to other local villages.

“I think it’s had an enormous financial and psychological negative impact on the village and on many of the businesses and restaurants within the village,” he said.

Clarendon Hills village manager Kevin Barr said he has engaged in an “endless stream” of intergovernmental discussions since the pandemic commenced in March.

“I think for most of us, it hit fairly suddenly,” Barr said. ... “At that time, you didn’t have a good handle—how it could spread or what that would mean.”

Barr said Clarendon Hills sent staff home where feasible, and did everything it could to protect employees that could not work from home, such as police officers, firefighters and public works officials.

Hinsdale village president Tom Cauley complimented his village's essential workers for continuing to come to work throughout the pandemic.

“We’ve been able to continue to providing the services,” Cauley said.

From mid-March through late May, Illinois was essentially paralyzed under Gov. J.B. Pritzker's shelter in place order.

“He placed health first, and I don't fault him for that, under those circumstances that prevailed in March and in April,” Grasso said.

During that period, it became increasingly evident that traditional summer events like Concerts on the Green, Dancin’ in the Street and Uniquely Thursdays could not be held safely in 2020.

“We held off as long as we could,” Barr said regarding Clarendon Hills canceling its Dancin’ in the Street summer concert series. ... “It was a shame, because I think people love those things.”

Entering 2020, local municipalities had a different outlook on what they anticipated would be the major issues and projects in their jurisdictions during the year ahead.

In Hinsdale, at the start of the year, 5G infrastructure, the downtown parking garage and the Tri-State Tollway project were top of mind.

Cauley said the tollway project is essentially proceeding as planned, and has not really been impacted by the pandemic.

The parking garage—which was constructed jointly by the village and District 181 as part of an intergovernmental agreement—was completed during the summer, and the village received a $400,000 grant to assist in defraying expenses on Dec. 15.

“That all worked out very well,” Cauley said of the project.

With fewer people frequenting the downtown during the pandemic, coupled with the new garage, parking meter use has declined substantially. Cauley said the board will not address the topic of removing the meters until after the pandemic.

“We’re not of one mind yet as to what will be done with the parking meters,” he said.

As for 5G, both Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills recently imposed executive orders essentially halting small-cell wireless permit applications while the pandemic rages.

“The trustees and I just don't want to deal with this at this time,” Cauley said.

Barr believes the pandemic helped to “delay the whole process” of 5G implementation.

“The companies involved seemed willing to back off, because of the concerns,” he said.

Clarendon Hills is in the midst of a significant downtown revitalization project that includes the construction of a new train station, as well as improvements to the railroad crossing at Prospect Ave.

With commuters virtually disappearing for months and car traffic reduced as well, Barr said the project has been easier to implement.

“It’s gone a little longer than we hoped, but I don’t think that’s really because of the pandemic,” he said.

According to Grasso, Burr Ridge entered the year desiring to fill up its village center and develop the property formerly occupied by TCF Bank.

“Obviously, the pandemic caused those plans to be put on hold,” he said, adding that the village’s ability to attract new businesses has been impeded.

Pritzker’s mitigation measures impacted small, local businesses—and especially restaurants, which were prohibited from serving customers indoors from midMarch till late June, and now have been reduced to the same position under a more inhospitable climate.

Back in May, Hinsdale was among the first communities in the Chicago metropolitan area to propose the permission of outdoor dining during the third phase of the “Restore Illinois” plan.

The village converted First Street into a one-way street eastbound, affording restaurants like Fuller House and Nabuki more space to set up tables.

“Every business in the downtown was offered the opportunity to have outdoor dining,” Cauley said.

Burr Ridge created tent space in its village center, which allowed restaurants to serve patrons even under inclement weather conditions.

“Many of our restaurants took advantage of it,” Grasso said.

Grasso said the village also awarded $15,000 to each of its hotels and $7,500 to nearly all of its small retailers to assist them during the initial months of the pandemic.

“We used hotel-motel money and other budget resources to financially assist our restaurants and our small businesses,” he said.

Grasso said he feels the tent and stimulus programs “went a long way towards keeping our Burr Ridge businesses alive,” adding that to his knowledge, the village has lost only two businesses since the start of the pandemic, one of which was a Subway franchise.

At the end of the year, Clarendon Hills discussed waiving liquor license fees for all of its businesses that serve alcohol, as well as other prospective remedies to aid its small business.

At the same time villages worked to accommodate their local businesses, they were pressed with budgetary challenges of their own.

Hinsdale estimates it has suffered a total of $1.9 million in revenue losses as a result of the pandemic.

Cauley said the village has observed a “fairly dramatic decline” in revenues from three sources: sales tax, food and beverage tax and parking permits.

Prior to the pandemic, he said the village had a waiting list of more than 100

individuals for commuter parking permits, which has since vanished.

“Most of the people who used to park in that lot have just surrendered their permits,” Cauley said. “They just haven't renewed them.”

Diminished driving has led to fewer visits to gas stations, which Cauley said has produced a significant impact on sales tax in Hinsdale, whose oasis, Mobil and Ogden Ave. gas stations account for a substantial portion of its overall sales tax revenues.

“We need these monies to maintain these services that the community is used to,” he said.

Cauley said the village has deferred maintenance on loans to sustain the essential services of police, fire and public works, and has not laid off any employees.

“We think it’s important to have continuity of people,” he said.

Hinsdale has a reserve of $8.2 million, which accounts for approximately 34 percent of its operating expenses, thus placing it in a more comfortable position even during a crisis such as this.

In forecasting for 2021, Cauley said the village assumed “things would get better, but not by much.”

“We did a fairly conservative budget this year,” he said.

Grasso said Burr Ridge is “very dependent” on sales tax revenues, with only approximately two percent of property tax bills being directed to the village.

“Many people think that villages run on property taxes,” he said. “Almost none do.”

Barr said Clarendon Hills received grants early in the year for its revitalization project, which “really helped to put our overall financial position in a better light.”

He said his village was not as financially impacted as some municipalities, because it derives a smaller portion of its revenues from sales tax.

As we move into 2021 and Coronavirus vaccines are rolled out, village officials are hopeful that we may regain a sense of normalcy by the second half of the year.

The order of vaccination eligibility is as follows: first, healthcare workers and long-term care residents; second, essential workers such as firefighters and police officers; and third, all adults 65 or over or at high-risk for suffering serious complications from the virus.

“It sounds like by late spring, for most people, it could happen,” Barr said.

The villages are optimistic that they will be able to renew their summer events in 2021.

“We’re very hopeful that by summer, those types of things can go forward, more or less, as normal,” Barr said.

“I’m hoping that this will all be over by the summer, and we’ll be able to have all of our summer events,” Cauley said.

“The vaccines are the game-changer,” Grasso said.

But officials likewise understand that there is still a long way to go until the pandemic has abated, and local businesses will continue to require assistance for much of 2021.

Burr Ridge is in the process of fashioning an entertainment section within the village center, which will be situated between Kohler and Topaz at one end, and between Wok-n-fire and Chico’s at the other. The portion of the street in that space will be closed off to drivers.

Grasso said Burr Ridge does not believe the village center can be as reliant upon retail going forward.

“I think retail is going to have to rethink its existence before the pandemic,” he said.

“The businesses that are the most likely to survive the pandemic are the chains, and I’m very concerned about the businesses in Hinsdale that are not chains,” Cauley said.

Cauley said Hinsdale’s vacancy rate has been “extremely low”—presently about four percent—and that he is “anxious” to keep businesses in the village.

“We’ve been very good at keeping businesses in town.” 