Resident urges board to act on traffic, ATV and safety problems tied to nearby park facility

A Village resident, Alan, told the Village Board that traffic, speeding and ATV use near a park facility have made his neighborhood unsafe and asked the board to explore changes including a one-way traffic pattern and renewed neighborhood-watch activity.

The comments came during the public-comment period. Alan said the problem has persisted for a decade and described multiple recent incidents. "It took me 15 minutes to get off my street on Saturday morning," he said, adding that his 4-year-old found an empty glass fifth of vodka in their yard. "This is the type of behavior that we are allowing to consume our neighborhood," he said.

Why it matters: residents said high vehicle volumes and speeding create a direct public-safety concern for families and children in the blocks near the park, including at least two houses with residents who have special needs.

Board members and staff discussed existing and planned enforcement: a sheriff's department liaison said deputies had been asked to monitor parks during different shifts and to share information with neighborhood-watch groups. A sheriff's department representative told the board that the department had informed neighborhood groups previously when property crimes or traffic problems were detected so neighbors could notify one another.

Alan said past outreach to neighboring jurisdictions and agencies has yielded little change. He said he contacted Waukegan Park District staff and aldermen in the past but that he felt officials had not acted. "The Park District has 0 interest in changing anything," he said in describing earlier exchanges; he also said a county board member recalled the park entrance had been described as temporary when it was created.

Residents and board members discussed next steps. Alan asked the board to revisit a one-way traffic option used on nearby Wadsworth as a potential way to discourage inbound traffic and prompt the park operator to create a dedicated access. He also said he would attend public-safety committee meetings if they are publicly noticed and offered to organize a neighborhood watch; trustees pointed to existing contacts in the sheriff's department and village volunteers who have helped coordinate watch activities in the past.

What was not decided: the board made no formal directive or vote at the meeting to require the park district to change access or to adopt a specific traffic-control measure. Trustees said a public-safety meeting is being planned for July and that staff and the sheriff's liaison would follow up with information and contacts.

Context and history: Alan said he has raised these concerns at board meetings for roughly 10 years and that speeding and parking counts previously recorded by the sheriff showed heavy daily traffic and repeated speed violations on the neighborhood street.

The board encouraged residents to submit identifying details about ATV riders and vehicles to the sheriff's office to help enforcement and to connect interested residents with the village's neighborhood-watch contacts.