With sewer and water infrastructure work already underway on the 100 North Block of Oak Park Avenue, negotiations reportedly continue between Oak Park’s village government and a private property owner over the future control of some 200 feet of vaulted sidewalk which fronts the Scoville Block #1 Building at Oak Park and Lake Street.
The vaulted sidewalk dates back to the commercial building’s construction more than a century ago. Ownership of the space under the sidewalk has never been fully resolved. But now with the $18 million infrastructure and streetscaping work already underway, the village wants to negotiate an agreement which will allow it to control the space and remake it in a more conventional way.
The overall project which began in early March has a hard completion deadline of Thanksgiving. Village officials have promised retail and restaurant businesses on the 100 South and 100 North blocks of Oak Park Avenue that work will be complete before the critical holiday shopping period.
Village President Vicki Scaman said Thursday that the village is determined to stay on schedule. She said infilling the open space is a “maintenance and safety issue” which must be resolved during the road construction project. “It absolutely has to get done,” she said.
Scaman said the village attorney is confident the village would prevail if it took its case to court. “Any court would recognize,” the necessity of the work being done, she said.
James Bushouse, the owner of the property, has a strong interest in historic preservation and has argued that the vaulted space which abuts office space in the basement of his building is both historically notable and that by virtue of building permits issued to him by the village since the 1990s now contains multiple mechanical systems which are critical to his building.
In a recent interview with the Journal, Bushouse said the two sides are now negotiating.
“The village wants me to pay for changes to the vault. They want me to remove mechanics from the vault that the village approved. That is very costly. Why as a private property owner should I be responsible for a public works project?”
Bushouse acknowledged a power imbalance in the negotiations. “The private sector rarely wins out over government. They have way more money than I have.”
He said the village has a timeline but that he doesn’t. Bushouse said any settlement is likely months away.
Scaman said she is paying close attention to this matter. “I’ve made it very clear we need to stay on schedule. Village engineers are very clear on what needs to be done and how to keep on schedule,” she said.
As it has over the past two months, village officials declined to have either Bill McKenna, the village engineer, or Greg Smith, the village attorney, answer questions from Wednesday Journal.
A spokesman for the village government, Dan Yopchick, issued this statement: “At this time the village is continuing to work with property owners to reach a resolution regarding the vaulted sidewalks. As those discussions are currently ongoing, neither the village attorney nor village engineer are available to discuss that at this time.”
Yopchick answered a follow-up question emailed to the village about potential construction delays owing to the continued negotiations with this note: “There are no anticipated delays or changes associated with the ongoing discussion at this time.”
