Lake County Gazette

The village of Long Grove continues to plan for the exciting Village Hall projects.

“I want to celebrate the fact that you guys have really embraced what the process is really all about,” Matt Bickel, a representative from Wold Architects, said during the meeting. “So we have at this point really, you know, embarked in what's called the programing phase to identify what are the kind of parts that you need. It's really then moving into schematic design where we start to really dive into the guiding principles that you all discussed that term that we use all the time, where we put out some statements of what this project needs to achieve. And so that is very much the next phase of the project. And our process is very much one of collaboration, right? We do not want to design this in a vacuum ad and present to you what we think is the perfect idea. We want to very much get to know what are your values and priorities and what is going to make this project uniquely Long Grove.”

The board uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the Village’s YouTube channel.

During their regular April 11th village board meeting, officials from Long Grove welcomed representatives from Wold Architects to talk about the progress and next steps of their proposed Village Hall expansion project. Bickel was there to engage with the board members, listen to some of their ideas, and give them a general outline of how and when everything would be proceeding. Some of the board members discussed the rearrangement of spaces in the design, with employees being able to work at their desks all facing each other to increase collaboration and relationship building.

The board also discussed approving Brothers Field’s special events application for its Cinco De Mayo event.

The board has identified that they need some more space and are leaning towards an addition put on their village hall, needing around 5000 square feet to accommodate all their programs and employees. Bickel shared that they do a fair share of addition/renovation projects, the concern with their situation is the possible asbestos and mold and other contaminants that could be in their very old building, so it could be that tearing it down and rebuilding might be better. The focus of the new building has to be around space, community engagement and room for gatherings, and energy efficiency for the long term. They want to encourage and provide for their city staff in the workspace.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at 3110 Old Mchenry Road.

The board members asked lots of questions of Bickel about his work and Wold Architects. They asked about natural lighting and spacing, where employees work while they do construction, what his past experience with government buildings and older building was. The discussion ended with the village staff being directed to finalize the contract with the architects and bring it to their next board meeting for approval so that they can move forward with getting some actual designs. If all goes well with that approval and the design stage that follows, the village could be putting out bids for the project in October of this year, which would allow them to start construction in the Spring of 2024.