Village President Michael Jenny is excited about development in Glenview during 2025, including a massive increase in business improvement grants approved by trustees for the coming year.
As a result of incentives provided through the village’s Economic Development Fund, seven new restaurants are expected to open in downtown Glenview during 2025, Jenny said.
“The Economic Development Fund, which we call the permanent fund, is a separate fund set up to incentivize these types of return-generating projects in the village,” he said.
Glenview Village President Michael Jenny. File photo.
In 2024, the Village Board allocated $450,000 in business improvement grants of up to $100,000 per business, Glenview spokesman David Just said. For 2025, the board more than doubled to $1 million the amount of money targeted for those grants, Just said.
The grants are used to improve facades or the interior of business property that is leased, Jenny said.
“If you want to invest in improving your space as a local business, we have a grant program for that,” he said.
Interior improvements include work such as plumbing and improvements to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, or HVAC, Just said.
Other projects on the horizon in Glenview in the coming year include the conversion of the former Scott Foresman property, previously used for educational publishing, to 60 single-family homes, Jenny said.
“The project was just granted conditional approval about a week and a half ago,” he said on Dec. 26. “It has to come before the Village Board for further review and consideration before final approval.”
In the northwest corner of the village, a similar proposal was submitted for the southwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten roads, Jenny said.
That project calls for 40 duplex homes and is not expected to be reviewed by the New Development Commission until late January, he said.
Glenview officials plan to focus on various sustainability and green initiatives during 2025, Jenny said.
Among those are the recent introduction of a pilot year-round compost program provided by Groot Waste Management, he said.
“We decided to try that program, based on suggestions and residential feedback,” Jenny said.
In previous years, the village offered composting from April to November, Just said on Dec. 26.
“In the past week we launched a pilot program to do more,” he said. “2025 will mark the first year the community can opt-in for (composting) year-round.”
A few months ago, trustees approved financing to develop a village sustainability plan, which will measure and “benchmark” sustainability and green initiatives,” Jenny said.
“We’re developing a cost-benefit analysis and identifying sustainable projects as we go forward,” he said. “We will undertake that process in 2025.”
Glenview will use a combination of grants and village funds to finance $10 million in green infrastructure improvements and bike and pedestrian improvements over the next five years, Just said.
“From other feedback we got, we want to make things more pedestrian and bike-friendly in the village,” Jenny said.
During 2025, Glenview will be monitoring state issues, including the repeal of the grocery tax, to determine how any changes will affect village residents and services, he said.
The loss of the grocery tax, which is expected to occur on Jan. 1, 2026, will cost Glenview about $2.5 million a year, Jenny said.
“As part of the legislation, the state allowed home-rule communities to put in a local grocery tax,” he said. “We’re going to be analyzing and taking a look at what that means for Glenview.”
The village will also monitor changes state officials have proposed to the local government distributive tax, or the share local communities receive of the state’s income tax, Jenny said.
“We’re monitoring to watch any financial impact to Glenview and our residents, so services are well maintained and managed for,” he said.
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
