Arlington Heights board seeks options after residents, businesses report growing bench encampment near Minor and Northwest Highway

Residents and business owners told the Village Board of Arlington Heights on July 7 that a small encampment around a bench near 14 W. Minor and Northwest Highway has grown into a persistent, disruptive presence that they say is affecting safety, sanitation and access.

"She has committed no crimes and done nothing illegal to my knowledge," said Linda Weisey, a member of Southminster Presbyterian Church, describing the woman who sits at the bench and who, she said, has accumulated more personal belongings over time. "There seems to be three issues here," Weisey added, citing noisy groups nearby, the amount of the woman's belongings and concern for her well‑being in extreme weather.

Jim Platania, who said he works at a family business on Northwest Highway, told the board: "We've seen more and more individuals congregate near the corner of Minor and NW Highway, leading to disruption for businesses like ours." Platania mentioned drinking, arguing and increased trash around his building and asked the board to consider solutions that balance business and community needs.

David Weiner, a neighbor who said he represents about a dozen units in his building, gave a detailed account of nuisance behavior he asserted was occurring near the bench: overflowing trash cans, chairs set on the sidewalk that impede passage, empty beer cans, people urinating against his building and use of exterior electrical outlets to charge phones. "This is our home just like yours," Weiner said, urging the board to act before the problem spreads.

Village Manager (name not specified in the record) told the board that staff are working the issue and that social‑service outreach is underway. The manager said social‑services staff have met with the individual and are coordinating with outside agencies, and that "there'll be more information going to the board for consideration in the next, you know, handful of days so that this can be taken on at an appropriate meeting." That statement was repeated as a commitment that staff will return with options for board consideration.

Trustee Bertucci told colleagues the situation is "unacceptable" and pressed staff for immediate recommendations, saying, "we've been waiting for staff now and we do need to move this along." Trustee Schwingbeck asked about private‑property enforcement; Village staff explained that when people are routinely on private property they may be trespassed and cited and that police patrols have responded and issued citations when illegal activity was observed.

Trustee Santa Maria and others emphasized that the problem is complex and rooted in homelessness and a shortage of affordable housing, and urged the board to avoid solutions that merely relocate the issue. "If we remove benches here, the issue will move somewhere else," Santa Maria said, calling for strategic, long‑term approaches that combine services and regulatory tools.

Staff reported the village's social‑services division is working with the individual and local partners, including Northwest Compass and other area service providers, to identify available services. Board members asked staff to compile examples of other municipal responses and to present a range of regulatory and service options for the board to consider at an upcoming meeting.

No formal policy change or ordinance was adopted at the July 7 meeting. The board accepted public comment, discussed enforcement options and directed staff to return with a menu of options and recommendations for an appropriate forum to consider them.