Council Plans Demolition of Habernickel Rental House

Although the village is short on both space and money, the council said Wednesday night it has no plans to turn one of the two rental properties at Habernickel into a meeting room to alleviate the strain wrought on by damage to Village Hall.

The council remains steadfast in it began years ago, members said.

Bottom line, Mayor Keith Killion said: "This council is fed up with not completing Habernickel."

The 1037 property at Hillcrest Road had been lining village coffers with about $4,000 per month. But when the rent checks stopped and the tenant was evicted, the village was presented a most unique opportunity – with many groups displaced due to the damage to the first floor of Village Hall, a temporary solution just may have been found.

"We are so space-strapped due to the Irene situation but even when all those rooms are back on board we are still constantly between village facilities, the Stable and community facilities," said Village Manager Ken Gabbert, "There just are not enough meeting facilities in the village."

He advocated for using the first floor as an adult meeting space and said the house remaining would not affect any of the current development plans at Habernickel, which include sport fields and a parking lot.

While Gabbert saw an opportunity to add needed meeting space, Mayor Keith Killion saw a very different opportunity.

"The house is now vacant, Habernickel Park was never intended to be used as a rental facility, it was intended to be used as a sports facility," Killion said. Killion stated the costs to make it ADA-compliant would be prohibitive and he didn't believe the council should "be in the business" of renting properties. He said he felt fortunate the village collected anything on it.

The contractor is already on site and as part of the bid spec, the company has already given a price to do the demolition. Gabbert said enough money was there to demolish the house as soon as council says go.

"We do need meeting space but our plan is to knock it down . . . We have a plan, I think we should go forward with it," said Councilman Paul Aronsohn.

Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh said she believed the groups displaced could make due while officials sought a solution to the flood damage on the first floor of Village Hall.

Residents were divided on whether to keep the house and use it for meeting space.

Residents Roger Wiegand and Boyd Loving supported keeping the house. Loving remarked the village was throwing away money by leaving close to $50,000 on the table in rent revenue. "Times have changed. It concerns me the house is coming down," he said.

Loving also worried about the other home (1057 Hillcrest Road) on the property falling under a bulldozer's claw.

Wiegand suspected the potential ADA requirements might not be as onerous as Killion made them sound. "Let's make sure we couldn't use it as a meeting house before we bulldoze it," he said.

Resident Lou Lembo, however, agreed with the council.

"A lot of time as we go along with these projects our vision changes," Lembo said. I think we need to keep our eye on the ball. We can't keep changing for the sake of changing."