Thursday, July 14, 2011
Looking for things to do? Stuff to know? People to meet? We've got it all in our "Five Things" feature.
1. Summer Doldrums for Village Board Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar ended Tuesday's village board meeting by hinting the village may cancel a meeting or two before the summer is over. Agendas for the last couple of meetings have been fairly light in terms of action needed from board members. Claar said it's pointless to bring community members out to the village town center, only to have them realize the meeting will be short-lived. The village board's next meeting, scheduled for July 26, will still be had because the board will take action on several financial resolutions, village attorney Jim Boan said. Meetings in August and September, though, might be consolidated into one per month, Claar said. Be sure to check back with Bolingbrook …
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Village and church that sued scheduled to appear in court next on Friday.
Lawyers representing Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church, the church that sued the village in federal court in March, say village officials are still making the church’s move to a Bolingbrook shopping center harder than it has to be. The two sides were scheduled to appear in court last week, but that status hearing was delayed because the village “had come up with a new way of horsing the church around,” said Andy Norman, a lawyer with Mauck & Baker, LLC, the firm that represents the church. Norman said the church was waiting on a building permit, essentially the last piece of the puzzle to end the litigation, which stemmed from a federal lawsuit filed March 30 by Liberty Temple that alleged Bolingbrook officials discriminated against church…
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The village board approved a measure that secures a $2 million federal grant to repave Boughton Road.
Bolingbrook trustees Tuesday unanimously voted on a measure that will move along a $2.7 million agreement between the village and state to repave a portion of Boughton Road. The measure will secure a $2 million federal grant from the Federal Highway Administration to repave the eastbound lanes of Boughton from Sunshine Drive to Schmidt Road. The other $700,000 will come out of the village's pocket. The board in April agreed to pay Rempe-Sharpe & Associates, Inc. no more than $80,000 to complete the resurfacing project. In February the board announced it would redo the entire eastbound portion of Boughton Road from Sunshine to Schmidt, which currently features a lengthy bump that village officials credit to an underground ComEd junction …
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Both sides are scheduled to appear in court June 3.
Village officials and representatives from Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church—the church that alleged the village discriminated against its efforts to relocate to a long-vacant space inside a Bolingbrook shopping center—are now working together to review construction plans and process the necessary permits needed for the church to operate out of the space. Meanwhile, the status hearing in a Chicago federal courtroom that was supposed to take place Wednesday has been pushed off to June 3. Jim Boan, the village attorney, said village officials are currently reviewing the church’s plans for the space inside the Bolingbrook Commons shopping center, located near the intersection of Route 53 and I-55. The two sides had been at odds in federal …
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Bolingbrook's projects safe, officials say.
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Thursday, May 19, 2011
SPRINGFIELD—Road crews have already started some of the work included in Illinois' 10-year, $31 billion construction plan that Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law in 2009. And while this summer's projects are guaranteed, the Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments this week that could put the rest of the projects on hold. The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments on the scope and focus of the state’s capital construction program. State lawyers were appealing a lawsuit filed by W. Rockwell Wirtz, president of Illinois' largest liquor distributor, and his company Wirtz Beverage of Illinois LLC. Public Act 96-34 increased taxes on items such as liquor and candy, allowed for the privatization of the state’s lottery and legalized video gaming in …
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The village board adopted a new zoning map that labels the Bolingbrook Commons shopping center as B-2 community retail land.
Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church may soon be allowed to operate out of a space in the Bolingbrook Commons, but they’ll likely be the last church to do so without acquiring a special-use permit from the village. That’s because the village board officially put a new zoning map on record—one that lists the Bolingbrook Commons shopping center as B-2 community retail. The new zoning map stemmed from a federal lawsuit between the village and church that alleged village Bolingbrook officials discriminated against church officials' efforts to relocate to a long-vacant space inside the shopping center near Interstate 55 and Route 53. Essentially, the spat was over whether the property the church was trying to move into was zoned B-2, which would …
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Village of Bolingbrook's Board of Trustees will meet tonight at their regularly scheduled board meeting.
Likely eager to put the matter behind them, the village board appears set to adopt a new zoning map that has been at the center of controversy since the end of March. The ordinance is just one item on a particularly busy agenda for the board's regularly scheduled meeting tonight. Also on the agenda is an ordinance to grant a special use permit for a new carry-out restaurant and a resolution that will donate village money to the Community Service Council of Northern Will County. Mayor Roger Claar is also set to swear in the newly elected village trustees, all of which are incumbents. Zoning Map The new zoning map stems from a federal lawsuit between the village and Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church that alleged village Bolingbrook officials…
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A federal judge lifted the temporary restraining order and replaced it with a preliminary injunction Tuesday.
The federal judge that issued a temporary restraining order against the village in its zoning dispute against a local church replaced the order with a preliminary injunction Tuesday in Chicago. What does that mean? Well, not much. But both sides are viewing it as an opportunity. U.S. Judge Harry Leinenweber said on April 12 it was “pretty clear” Bolingbrook’s zoning map was misleading at best and ruled against the village in a zoning dispute against Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church. A few days later, Leinenweber issued the temporary restraining order, which expired two weeks later. That decision stemmed from a federal lawsuit filed March 30 by Liberty Temple, which alleged Bolingbrook officials discriminated against church officials' …
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The village and Illinois American Water remain at odds over whether the water company overcharged the village from 2003 to 2008.
The village and its water company remain stuck in litigation after a Will County Circuit Court judge denied the water company’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit earlier this month. In November, the village filed a three-count lawsuit against Illinois American Water, alleging the company overcharged Bolingbrook from 2003 to 2008 and violated its contract with the village by offering Plainfield a cheaper rate. The suit went up before a judge April 5 and the two are now moving on to the discover phase of the judicial process. According to the two parties' contract, village attorney James Boan said, Bolingbrook is entitled to the lowest possible water rate and is not required to pay more for water than any other user. However, documents show that…
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Former Landscape Architect Jim Boan will have a portion of wooded area named in his honor April 30. Boan was very instrumental in the design of the park district as we know it today.
In 1973, Bolingbrook’s population was a mere 7,800 and Jim Boan had just stepped off the campus of the University of Illinois with a degree in landscape architecture and into the role of Bolingbrook Park District Superintendent of Parks. Employed on the heels of a referendum that earmarked funding to build parks in the village, Boan spearheaded the development of 16 neighborhood park sites as well as overseeing the installation of playgrounds at each of the village’s public elementary schools. Boan will be immortalized April 30 as the Bolingbrook Park District honors his service on the parks behalf, naming 27 acres of open space and high-quality woodlands the James S. Boan Woods at Hidden Oaks Conservation Area. The ceremony, which will be…
Leonid Breznev
8:22 pm on Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Governments, particularly left wing local administrations like Bolingbrook should not be in the business of running an enterprise such as the water. They should not be in the business of running anything other than local services. The Golf Course loses copious amounts of money, the airport loses money hourly and we would have been far better off if the Mayor had dug a pit and buried a $1 million … more ›