Brookfield’s village board gave its approval to the current direction of the first phase of its project to improve Ogden Avenue in the long term.
For nearly two hours on Sept. 22, village trustees heard and discussed a presentation with the latest updates on plans drafted by Civiltech Engineering to revitalize the mile-long stretch of Ogden Avenue, from Eberly Avenue to Custer Avenue, that falls within Brookfield.
Civiltech representatives sought consensus from the board on the plan, as they expect to bring it next to the Illinois Department of Transportation for approval, as Ogden Avenue falls under IDOT’s jurisdiction.
The goal of the project is to make the corridor safer for pedestrians and cyclists while emphasizing sustainable practices, continuing to accommodate the large amount of traffic that makes use of the IDOT artery each day and creating a “sense of place” within Brookfield, said Village Manager Tim Wiberg. The soonest that construction could begin on the project would be in 2029 after several years of design work that has yet to begin.
“We’re not talking about how we can improve Ogden for the next year or two years. It’s really a 30- to 40-year focus,” Wiberg said. “Obviously, it’s impossible to know what the needs will look like in the year 2070, but we think we have a pretty good idea of what works now and what doesn’t work now. This plan is really trying to address what we can do to improve this corridor for the next generation.”
He said the plan as it was being presented was the result of further study from Civiltech, the firm contracted to create the phase one report, and monthly meetings between the firm and a village subcommittee comprised of himself, trustees Kit Ketchmark and Kyle Whitehead, former Trustee Edward Côté, Village Engineer Derek Treichel, Community Development Director Libby Popovic and Public Works Director Lauren Moore.
Treichel told the board that Brookfield has enough funding for the first two phases of the project, which include planning and design. As those phases continue through 2029, he said village staff would seek outside funding for the project, which has an estimated cost of $25 million to $30 million, with the goal of outside sources covering about 80% of the total cost.
The board reviewed specific details about intersections with side streets, the corners of intersections with stoplights, the width of sidewalks and ways to accommodate parking needs along the corridor while removing observed non-compliant parking spaces that overlay the public right-of-way. Charts with the plans for each intersection and stretch of parking are available as part of the village staff memo that was included in the board’s agenda packet for the meeting.
In the course of the discussion, the largest topic seemed to be the removal of non-compliant parking spaces. Members of the board and village staff acknowledged the importance of these existing spaces to businesses along Ogden Avenue while emphasizing the danger they pose to pedestrians.
“This has been going on for decades, and, in some cases, if we start enforcing this rigorously, the businesses may shut down because it’s the whole parking they have on their site,” Wiberg said of drivers parking partially on the curb or in spots where their cars’ bumpers butt into the sidewalk. “It shouldn’t be allowed, but it would be a drastic change of how they operate their business. That’s why our community has spent a lot of time looking at these blocks, looking at this.”
Overall, on the north side of Ogden Avenue, 28 code-compliant parking spots are planned to be added in the form of angled side street parking, while 29 private and 20 observed public non-compliant spots would be removed. On the south side, six private and six observed public non-compliant spots would be targeted, while 24 compliant parking spots would be added.
The gains and losses in parking would not be evenly distributed along Ogden Avenue, with some stretches, like from Elm Avenue to Park Avenue, losing 16 non-compliant spots along the north side of the road.
“We’ve always talked about [how] Ogden Avenue has to change. Things have to be different,” Village President Michael Garvey said. “It is absurd that people park on sidewalks on Ogden Avenue … the change is going to be difficult, but if this board doesn’t do something about it, it’s probably never going to get done.”
Overall, the board gave their approval to the plan in large part as it was presented. Treichel, Wiberg and Jim Tibble, a senior project manager at Civiltech, said one of the next steps would be to reach out to business owners along Ogden Avenue to gain their input on parking in the area, likely in the spring. The first phase of the project is expected to finish next summer with a final public meeting before the project heads into the second phase for design work.
