Mundelein mayor outlines large-scale development, road projects and budget pressures in final State of the Village

MUNDELEIN, Ill. — At a Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 10, 2025, the mayor delivered his 11th annual State of the Village address, reviewing downtown redevelopment plans, major infrastructure projects, multiple residential developments and the village’s fiscal position as he prepares to leave office.

The mayor said redevelopment opportunities in downtown’s “bank triangle” — a roughly six-acre area that includes two vacant former bank sites, the former Citgo station and land between Chicago Avenue and the railroad — are the village’s top economic opportunity. The village sold the old water-building to the Fenton family, who are converting it to a brewery, and the village has entered a contract to buy adjacent vacant land to add roughly 150 parking spaces, the mayor said. He said Hezner Corporation produced concept plans last year to set design expectations for prospective developers.

The panel also reviewed three infrastructure projects the mayor highlighted as important to traffic flow and pedestrian connections. East Holly Avenue will receive federal and state grants that include about $1.5 million for a multiuse path to connect the Millennium Trail to the North Shore bike path, but the grant structure prevents construction until 2029, the mayor said. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is in phase 2 engineering on an overpass at Diamond Lake Road and Route 83; the mayor said IDOT is negotiating for property and projected a tentative groundbreaking in late 2026 or early 2027. The village completed a downtown parking expansion at Park and Seymour, deciding not to bury overhead power lines to save roughly $1 million and to preserve funding for parking elsewhere.

On large-scale residential development, the mayor described the proposed Ivanhoe Village master plan on roughly 700 acres north of Target: the concept includes about 1,200 single-family homes, 600 townhomes, 800 multifamily units, 600 age-targeted units and mixed commercial and industrial space over a multi-decade buildout. The village expects to begin discussing term sheets and other formal approvals with the board “in a month or two,” the mayor said.

Other housing and development updates included: - Morris Station: a 136-unit market-rate rental now 100% leased. - A Flaherty & Collins proposal for the parcel in front of village hall: a $68 million project with 242 units (including 17 townhomes) and a three-story private parking garage; anticipated groundbreaking in 2025. - Station 250: a 169-unit market-rate building that has completed construction and was about 25% occupied at the time of the address. - Mundelein senior apartments: 46 units under construction with an anticipated opening later in 2025. - Sheldon Woods (Pulte): a 192-unit single-family development nearing completion of phase 1 with phase 2 underway. - Towns at Oak Creek: 222 townhomes with 28 of 44 buildings completed. - Springs at Mundelein: two-story garden-style rental apartments in active construction.

The mayor emphasized Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District No. 4 on Mundelein’s south side — covering the former Menards/Oak Creek Plaza area — as a successful redevelopment tool that helped remove blight and attract investment, including a roughly 320,000-square-foot Bridgepoint industrial building that generates increment for future public improvements.

On finances, the mayor framed fiscal responsibility around staffing, debt and reserves. He said the village currently has approximately one employee per 153 residents (compared with one per 148 residents in 2008, when the village had 209 employees). He said Standard & Poor’s raised the village’s credit rating “from a plus to double-A minus,” crediting stronger reserves. He also warned of rising pension costs driven by actuarial-model changes (longer life-expectancy assumptions and lower assumed investment returns) and noted declining sales-tax receipts. The mayor also flagged an upcoming state-level change: Illinois is ending a 1% grocery tax effective Jan. 1, 2026, and the village will need to decide later this year whether to adopt a similar local tax allowed by the state.

The address covered technology and customer-service upgrades: the village is implementing new software systems referenced as SNA and Frontline (the mayor also referenced NextRequest and CivicPlus services) to streamline building permits, water billing and online resident requests, and to allow services such as vacation house checks and pet licenses online.

Public works highlights included continued focus on roads (Mundelein maintains about 110 miles of roadway), the village’s sidewalk program (about 610 sidewalk panels replaced using a lower-cost method), and a fleet program that uses B20 biodiesel (20% biodiesel blend) across diesel vehicles. The mayor described the village’s new public works facility as modern and well-maintained.

Public safety remarks noted the village’s CALEA accreditation, the mayor’s praise for detectives and first responders, several case anecdotes (including a recent child-rescue and a residential fire rescue) and continuing public-safety programs such as periodic blood drives hosted by the fire department.

The mayor closed with thanks to volunteers and numerous commissions — planning and zoning, economic development, arts, historical, community days and others — and invited questions from the audience. Two audience questions recorded during the Q&A asked whether the IDOT Route 83 overpass would expand the roadway to four lanes (the mayor said yes) and how the village prioritizes new staff positions (the mayor said decisions are driven by growth trends, crime and service demand data and presented to the board for budget decisions).

Votes at a glance: - Motion to approve Committee of the Whole meeting minutes from Nov. 11, 2024: motion by Trustee Juarez; second by Trustee Schwain; roll call votes: Juarez — yes; Schwain — yes; Meyer — yes; Lambert — yes; Ross — yes; Wilson — yes. Outcome: approved.

Discussion vs. decisions: the State of the Village address was a presentation and status update; apart from the minutes approval at the start of the meeting, no new ordinances, contracts or formal board actions were recorded during the address. Several prospective projects (Ivanhoe Village term sheets, bank-triangle redevelopment) will return to the board for future formal approvals.

Questions and next steps: the mayor said staff and the board will continue work on term sheets for Ivanhoe Village and economic-development outreach for downtown; IDOT’s schedule governs the Route 83 overpass timing; East Holly corridor construction is constrained by grant rules that delay building until 2029. The mayor invited residents to use new online services once software conversions are complete and thanked volunteers and department staff for their work.