At the Thursday, April 23, Village of Lombard Board of Trustees meeting, the board approved a Downtown Improvement and Renovation Grant for MinMax Games, located at 1 S. Park Ave.
Owners Peter and Sam Kuhlman, and Eric Simmons, have run a family-owned business in Addison since 2021, and will now bring their business to the 3,500-square-foot building that will feature retail on the ground floor and residential space above, according to a village memo, which described that the business will specialize in tabletop miniatures and trading card games.
The grant request, recommended for board approval by the Economic and Community Development Committee, is not to exceed $50,000 or up to 50 percent of eligible project costs, whichever is less.
The owners want to install new awnings, tuckpointing, brickwork and masonry work, among other improvements.
The committee also recommended offering an additional grant for up to $25,310, or 50 percent of the costs, to make ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) improvements, including a new side entrance and an interior lift.
In other business
Several committee heads gave recaps of their meetings.
• District Four Trustee Patrick Egan, chair of the Community Promotion and Tourism Committee, said the meeting focused on “how we’re using data to better understand and grow Lombard’s tourism economy.” He said the village is using technology that gives “real insight into where visitors are coming from, how long they’re staying and how they’re moving through the community.”
“That’s helping us move from guessing to actually knowing,” he added.
Egan pointed to two events—Frosty Faustings, to be held at the Westin Chicago-Lombard, and the recent Lombard Restaurant Week, as examples of visitors coming to Lombard and contributing to the local economy.
He said the committee reviewed a report outlining how “Lombard residents are spending money outside the village; ‘leaking’ retail dollars.”
Egan said the committee looked at opportunities to “bring that business back,” and to recruit and support businesses that “meet that existing demand.”
• District Two Trustee Jessica Hammersmith, chair of the Community Relations Committee, said their meeting focused on “the beautification of Lombard,” adding, “We got to see some beautiful mural artists and selected two potential artists for [an] upcoming mural through public works.”
She also mentioned how the committee learned that Lombard’s website is “getting traction, how Facebook and Instagram posts are reaching people in the community.”
Hammersmith said it is “unbelievable” that the website is getting so much attention.
• Hammersmith also spoke on behalf of the Economic and Community Development Committee (in District One Trustee Brian LaVaque’s absence), saying the committee discussed the aforementioned grant for MinMax Games.
“Learning about the history of that building was thrilling for me,” she said of the long-vacant bank building.
Prior to the vote, she commented, “I am thrilled to know that this is on our agenda for tonight and to see all the work that’s gone in from all of you on the staff to bring businesses like MinMax to Lombard.”
“It’s a wonderful opportunity and it feels like a missing piece in downtown Lombard is being put into place,” Hammersmith added.
• District Six Trustee Bob Bachner, chair of the Public Works and Environmental Concerns Committee, said his committee and the Public Safety and Transportation Committee held a joint meeting, during which members got more information on regulations about e-scooters and e-bikes; “continuing communication and education with the residents—what’s allowed, what’s permissible and what’s not street legal.”
He encouraged residents to visit village’s website (www.villageoflombard.org) “to review the village’s policy and state laws on e-scooters and e-bikes.”
Bachner went on to explain that the main reason for the joint meeting was to review what’s known as the Westmore-Meyers Safety Enhancement Project. He said traffic data concluded that a “road diet” is the best configuration of the road; one northbound lane and one southbound lane with a dedicated turn lane in the middle, and bicycle lanes along each curb.
The trustee said residents spoke up about traffic speed, and while some like the idea of the road diet, others do not. He said it is “one of the major arterial village roads” that supports an average of 12,000 vehicles a day, so the proposed project is being designed “as a safety concern” due to speeding and traffic accidents, especially between St. Charles Road and Jackson Street.
Other resident concerns were that, with a new configuration, delivery and waste vehicles, buses, etc., would cause traffic delays; and also that residents would have difficulty backing out of their driveway. Bottlenecking was also a concern, Bachner added, as well as traffic “flying down side streets to avoid bottlenecking caused by the road diet.”
“We wouldn’t turn Roosevelt Road into a two-lane road just to [address] a speeding issue, so why are we doing it on Westmore?” Bachner posed.
“I think there’s a better answer to address the safety and speeding issues without interrupting a major arterial road that handles 12,000 cars a day. I do believe that part of the program that was suggested could improve the safety of the bicycle crossing at the Prairie Path and there are plenty of ways for bicycle traffic to traverse from north to south.”
He said the item will be placed on a future village board agenda.
