Hinsdale panel weighs pedestrian pilot for Village Place, from removing parking to creating courtyard

Deputy Chief Lilly told the Public Safety & Transportation Commission that Village Place carries roughly 500 vehicles a day on average, with peaks near 700, and that observational footage shows pedestrians sometimes walking in the roadway where parked cars push them into travel lanes. "It's about 500 vehicles average a day," Lilly said, citing KLOA data. He also presented speed data, saying, "the 85th percentile speed is 12 mph; the 95th percentile is 14 mph," and noted the posted business-district speed limit is 20 mph.

The department and consultant outlined four practical concepts for a pilot. One option would remove four 15‑minute pick‑up/drop‑off parking spaces along the southern leg and recreate those spaces in the adjacent Garfield lot to create more continuous pedestrian space. A second option would redirect the downtown circulator traffic through the Garfield lot to reduce through-traffic on Village Place. A third envisions a courtyard or dining plaza on the southern end to encourage outdoor seating and a pedestrian plaza; staff cautioned that would require agreements with businesses and would likely eliminate one or more parking spaces and complicate delivery operations. A fourth option would flip the focus to the north end of Village Place.

Commissioners raised potential trade-offs. Some members warned that diverting traffic could shift vehicles toward intersections with higher accident histories, since Garfield and First Street already record more collisions. Another commissioner asked whether adding a courtyard might simply attract more pedestrians to an area that does not currently have a demonstrated safety problem. Staff responded that while Village Place's accident history is relatively low, observational evidence supports improving separation between pedestrians and vehicles in the southern leg.

Business‑related impacts were a recurring concern. Commissioners and staff emphasized the need to talk with downtown business owners before piloting changes: delivery vehicle access, the limited size of the Garfield lot's west leg (15‑foot right of way), and private parking arrangements were cited as constraints. A commissioner asked planners to include a fifth scenario — the full closure model used in nearby Elmhurst — so stakeholders could react to it, even if it proved unrealistic.

Next steps: staff will socialize the concepts with business owners and other stakeholders, refine engineering options (including curb and bollard details), and return with a narrower pilot proposal. The commission requested that any pilot preserve delivery access and document anticipated lost or relocated parking.