For the second time, the Village of Oak Park has failed to make the cut in a plea for some $26 million in federal dollars to build brick streets in key commercial areas of the village.
Oak Park was angling for the money as part of a $43 million plan to gussy up areas on or near Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue in a fashion similar to Marion Street. But competition was ferocious, as the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded just $511 million in grants, out of $14.29 billion requested from across the country.
“Obviously we’re disappointed, but I think it was somewhat inspiring to know that we were in the competition,” said Village Manager Tom Barwin. “The reality is there is amazing competition for these funds, including communities and organizations that have a lot of clout.”
Oak Park was angling for dollars from the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) program, which is now in its third year. Forty-six projects caught the eye of the feds this time, three in Illinois. Those included $20 million to eliminate slow zones on the Blue Line el and start a bike sharing program in Chicago, $13.85 million to build a transportation station in Alton, and $10.4 million to reconstruct a couple of miles of Illinois Route 83.
The department of transportation announced the grant awards on Dec. 15, and will likely open the next round of applications this spring, according to spokesman Bill Adams. He could not say, specifically, why Oak Park lost out, but said the next pot of money should also be around $500 million.
Village President David Pope said that, in past meetings with federal transportation officials, Oak Park was told that it was in the top 10 percent of applicants the first time it tried. He hopes that Oak Park can meet with officials again in the near future to help fine-tune their application.
Oak Park is pursuing the streetscape upgrades because it wants to unify all of its main shopping districts by spreading a similar look through its downtown. A similar idea was recommended in Oak Park’s downtown master plan, a roadmap for development that a consultant completed in 2005 with considerable citizen input.
Pope said the village board will meet sometime later this year to discuss how it wants to prioritize its street fix-ups and other projects planned in downtown Oak Park.
With the settling of a long-running legal battle with Oak Park and River Forest High School last year, Oak Park no longer has tax increment financing dollars to help bankroll such street projects, but Pope was unsure, yet, what alternative sources of funding might be. Barwin said Oak Park might need to switch up its application the next time around, with TIF dollars no longer available to cover the $17 million, locally funded portion of the plan.
“We haven’t had any conversations about what some alternatives might be, and it would seem to make the most sense to first get the lay of the land as to what we might be able to obtain in TIGER grant funding to help make this project happen,” Pope said.
