Villa Park commission will pursue picnic tables near Villa Perk, seek vendor quotes and business sponsorships

The Garden Village Commission voted May 21 to pursue installing three to four heavy‑duty picnic tables and relocating two existing planters to a small green space southeast of Villa Avenue near the Prairie Path and Villa Perk.

Commissioners agreed the next steps are to collect vendor quotes for public‑use tables, draft sponsorship levels for local businesses and survey nearby merchants for interest. The commission approved a motion to assemble those vendor and sponsorship details and bring a formal recommendation to the village board at the next or following meeting.

Director Tim How provided the commission with cost context, saying a sturdy public picnic table typically runs “about $850 to $1,000” apiece; four tables at the high end would be roughly $4,000. Commission members proposed offsetting costs by offering tiered sponsorships — including small plaques at higher sponsorship levels — and repurposing two village planters to reduce purchase needs to only flowers and planting costs.

The group also reviewed coordination needs with DuPage County. Commissioners reported that county staff (prairie‑path coordinator Melissa) noted a 6‑foot setback requirement from the path for installations and that the county prefers a formal request/referral that the county board will process once the commission forwards its recommendation.

Commissioners agreed to: gather three vendor quotes if required; draft sponsorship tiers and a business outreach flyer with communications staff; and survey local businesses to estimate donations before presenting a packaged recommendation to the village board.

The commission recorded the motion as passed by voice vote; the motion text authorized vendor outreach and development of sponsorship levels and outreach materials. The commission did not record a numeric roll‑call tally in the minutes.