Officials in La Grange Park funded a slew of infrastructure projects as trustees approved $1.73 million in funding at the July 28 Village Board meeting.
Roadway projects took up the bulk of the allocations, with $200,000 going to engineering services for the Brainard Avenue Resurfacing Improvements Project and $1.34 million going to the 2026 Roadway Bond Paving Project and North Village Hall Green Parking Lot Project.
“The bids came in and Triggi (Construction) being the lowest, the lowest qualified, at $1,339,152.25,” Mike Sheehan, trustee and public works committee chair, told his Village Board colleagues before the vote. “Triggi Construction has previously performed satisfactory work in the village and is available to start immediately to help expedite the completion of Raymond Avenue in front of Brook Park School.”
The project includes improvements to Raymond Avenue between 30th and 26th streets, and Castle Circle and Kings Court, including replacing curbs and gutters, concrete sidewalks, driveway pavements, drainage structures, the resurfacing of asphalt pavement and the restoration of parkways.
The reconstruction of the North Village Hall Green parking lot includes replacing the asphalt parking lot with permeable brick pavers and installing new concrete sidewalks and curbs.
The roads project will be largely financed with the Road Bond referendum that was passed in March 2026 with 79.27% of village voters approving a bond issuance of $10 million to be repaid over the next 10 years.
The new bonds replace the 2016 Road and Fire Equipment bonds, which expired at the end of 2025 and are projected to not increase the level of funding already on the tax bill.
Trustee Bob Lautner, finance committee chair, was supportive of the road project but was unclear what would be accomplished by replacing the Village Hall parking lot, saying “I’m still struggling with that.”
Public Works director Rick Radde framed the issue as one of taking care of village property with some additional financial benefits.
“As we started looking into this and trying to be good stewards we realized that we could potentially get some funding from MWRD (Metropolitan Water Reclamation District), and make this a green infrastructure project,” Radde said.
Radde also pointed out that the village intersections that had been upgraded with permeable pavers had proved to be successful in mitigating serious flooding, with only “some standing water next to the curbs” during a recent heavy rainfall.
Although village staff originally planned to begin roadway projects in 2027, Radde indicated that work would begin immediately.
“We’re going to prioritize the 1200 block of Raymond (Avenue), because that’s right by a school and we want to get that done before the school starts on August 24th,” he said.
Other infrastructure projects approved included contracting for water leak detection services ($30,000), replacements for Plymouth Place water meters ($54,000), water meter reading maintenance ($21,090), and design engineering services for the village’s lead service line replacements ($78,700).
The next La Grange Park Village Board meeting will be 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 25, in the Village Board Room, 447 N. Catherine Ave.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
