With the renovation of Lake Forest’s Deerpath Road set to run for several more months, the city is now set to start another makeover of another downtown street.
Following years of discussion, construction is now scheduled to start soon on a rehabilitation of a section of Bank Lane, a narrow roadway in the central business district. Crews will start to work following City Council approval of an approximate $1.6 million construction contract at a May 19 meeting.
City officials believe an upgraded Bank Lane will create a better experience for pedestrians with the possibility of creating outdoor dining spaces and gathering areas.
“Bank Lane has been an opportunity for years,” City Engineer Byron Kutz said at the City Council meeting.
The planned improvements include installation of new brick pavers, decorative sidewalks, LED lighting and limited landscape work on Bank Lane from Deerpath to the south up to Southgate, near the Market Square shopping center, according to Community Development Director Catherine Czerniak.
She added construction is now set begin June 16 and run through October 31. While pedestrian access will remain open, vehicular traffic will be closed throughout the length of the project.
The Bank Lane project will occur at the same time as the ongoing overhaul of Deerpath, which began shortly after the first of the year. Currently, vehicles are prohibited in both directions on Deerpath from Oakwood to Western.
Officials believe doing the two projects at once will mean fewer overall construction projects and a more cohesive look for the entire area.
The Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Chamber of Commerce endorsed the facelift.
“The proposed enhancements will go a long way in altering the potential of the block as an adaptable area for community enjoyment,” Executive Director Joanna Rolek wrote in an e-mail.
Yet stakeholders concede the months-long construction will represent a challenge for the approximately 12 area business owners on Bank Lane.
“Like in any project we have done of this magnitude, we all love it when it’s over. It is working through that is the difficult part,” Alderman John Powers, 2nd said at the City Council meeting. “There is going to be a level of inconvenience that I don’t know that any of us is going to be able to moderate.”
Allison Gurza, the owner of the Sage Explorers toy store on Bank Lane, is likely to be impacted by the reduced access to her enterprise, even as she endorsed the concept of the renovation.
She said she will encourage her customers to use the store’s back door and will update her website with the hopes of additional online sales.
“That’s the best we can do and then just get through it,” she said.
Seeking to ease the inconveniences for the Bank Lane businesses, the City Council unanimously selected a bid from a company where crews will work approximately from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. about 80 percent of the time. The remainder of the effort will go roughly from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. The city believes crews will do most of the most “disruptive” work in the overnight hours.
Sarah Zdralic, Director of Private Events at Le Colonial, the restaurant located at Bank Lane and Southgate, where many sit on the patio, requested that the City Council approve the bid incorporating nighttime work.
“As much evening work that can possibly be done would be very much appreciated,” she said.
Mayor Stanford “Randy” Tack endorsed the option of working both day and night.
“It’s really the win-win option here to the extent that there is a win for the businesses at all,” Tack said. “It’s just less of a loss, I guess.”
Tack noted the city is considering offering financial mitigation to businesses directly affected by the construction, both on Deerpath as well as Bank Lane. (City spokeswoman Dana Olson said the City Council is expected to discuss the situation at the June 16 meeting.)
In other ways to alleviate the disruptions, the city will also offer free three-hour parking in several city lots during the course of the project, and Bank Lane south of Deerpath will re-open during construction to two-way traffic. The street had been limited to one-way traffic as part of a pilot project seeking to ease congestion and improve safety.
Rolek, the chamber of commerce executive director, noted the construction period will be difficult and said chamber officials have been meeting with business owners and the city to find ways to ease the issues. She said there have been special events, promotions, and the chamber is developing a website to highlight the affected businesses.
Separately, Olson said construction on Deerpath remains on schedule and should be completed by the end of October.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.