Construction will begin later this spring in Vernon Hills near corporate housing on what officials are calling a $13.5 million kindergarten center in the Chicagoland suburb. District 73 unanimously approved the project,but it didn’t get approval without its fair share of detractors and complaints. The Vernon Hills Planning and Zoning Commission actually recommended a denial of the project,but village board members overruled the commission and have decided to move forward with the massive project.
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Built near short term rentals on the Vernon Hills Park District Sullivan Center,the project is set to be completed by Fall 2020 with construction starting in as little as a month from now,according to District 73 Board President Sonali Patil.
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“We’re really glad it passed,” Patil told a reporter after the approval meeting. “Even with the closures due to the cold last week,we still worked extremely hard to coordinate with the village and park district to get everybody on the same page. Thankfully,it all lined up and we can get started.”
The next steps,according to Patil,are to immediately begin getting bids from construction firms in the area. The firm that lands the project will be excited to get the business due to the project being so valuable – a whopping $13.5 million.
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The issue of money has actually been settled already in Vernon as District 73 already voted in January to sell the $13.5 million in bonds to fund the new kindergarten center near corporate housing.
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Vernon Hills Mayor Roger Byrne himself actually felt compelled to post to Facebook ahead of the vote to assure his constituents that he supported the project and that he was confident that it would pass. Calling himself “grandpa” in the post,Byrne told voters that he supported the project and couldn’t think of a single person on the village board that opposed it.