The city of Park Ridge is the recipient of a grant for additional Uptown beautification, but if accepted, the dollars will come at a cost.
Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim told the City Council last month that the city was selected to receive a $1.3 million grant from the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program. The grant, which Zingsheim’s department applied for in June, is meant for streetscape improvements along a stretch of Northwest Highway between Prospect and Washington avenues.
Zingsheim said the improvements, if they move forward, would be similar to what was done three years ago on Prospect and Summit avenues. They would include new street lights, sidewalks with brick pavers, trees, benches and the replacement of existing gas lamps with electric lamps, he said.
But the grant, which consists of federal money administered by the state, requires the city to contribute 20 percent of the cost for all items eligible under the terms of the grant, Zingsheim added. The city would also have to pay half of the street light price tag, he said.
“This could cost us up to $800,000 in matching funds,” Zingsheim said of the entire project.
Fifth Ward Ald. Dan Knight, who chairs the City Council’s finance committee, said the grant “sounds terrific.”
“The area’s in sore need of updating,” he said. “We’ve talked about that. For someone to come in and be able to pay for over half of that is a bonus.”
Zingsheim said some of the work that the grant would partially pay for needs to be done anyway. He pointed to the aging street lights and gas lamps.
“It’s really a good opportunity for the city of Park Ridge to take advantage of,” Zingsheim said. “We’ve got a year and a half to figure out how to pay for it.”
Work would likely not begin until spring 2018 if the City Council agreed to move forward, he said, though a potential timeline has not yet been determined. The work would include both sides of Northwest Highway between Washington and Prospect, with the exception of the area by St. Paul of the Cross parish, Zingsheim said.
In 2010, the city was the recipient of another Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant, which paid for the development of streetscape plans for several Uptown streets, including Northwest Highway. That grant was $320,000 with an $80,000 city match.
Three years later, the city completed work along Prospect Avenue, between Summit and Northwest Highway, and along Summit Avenue with an $841,000 ITEP grant and city contribution of $579,000.
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