Chicago Ridge School District 127.5 plans to buy the Candle Light Banquets building and turn it into its headquarters after the Village Board approved a special-use permit and zoning variance for the project on Sept. 22.
Moving the district offices out of Finley Junior High School would free classroom space at the growing school, Superintendent Adam Thorns told trustees.
“We are hoping to close on the building by the end of October,” Thorns said after the vote.
The purchase price has not been made public.
The village’s Planning and Zoning Committee had recommended approval after an earlier hearing. The Village Board then granted the permit and variance for the building at 10625 S. Ridgeland Ave.
Thorns presented the plans with Pat Miner, an attorney for the district, and Cory Boaz, principal architect with Studio-GC. The team showed trustees preliminary drawings.
District 127.5 includes Ridge Lawn and Ridge Central elementary schools and Finley Junior High School, 10835 S. Lombard Ave., where the district offices now share space with students.
“Enrollment at Finley continues to go up and up,” Thorns said.
About 377 students in sixth through eighth grades attend Finley. Thorns said enrollment is projected to grow 20% to 25% over the next 2 to 5 years.
Ridge Lawn and Ridge Central have room to expand, and some expansion has already been done, Thorns said. “We’re landlocked at Finley,” he said.
Besides housing the district offices, the banquet hall would hold classrooms for birth-to-3, an early intervention program for Illinois families with young children.
“It is a grant program, that some other area school districts are also offering,” Thorns said.
“We would have 20 families at a time for classes there,” he said. That classroom use is why the district needed a special-use permit to operate the building as a school, he said.
Birth-to-3 is a voluntary, federally supported and state-run program developed through the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, according to the Illinois Department of Early Childhood. It provides free or low-cost developmental evaluations and support services for young children, the department said.
Parent educators will run the programs, Thorns said.
“Anytime children would be there, their parents would be coming with them. So school buses will not be needed,” Thorns said in response to a question from Trustee Roger Meslar.
Trustees also approved a variation allowing 9-foot-wide parking spaces instead of the standard 10 feet after code enforcement officials told them the change would not cause problems. The narrower spaces allow 51 parking spots in the fenced lot.
That is enough for the 17 to 20 district staff members who will work there, plus Birth-to-Three staff, families attending classes and people attending district board meetings.
Mayor Jack Lind praised the proposal before trustees voted on it as part of the regular agenda.
“Well done. We’re excited about having this new initiative here,” Lind said.
Thorns said the program would let the district connect with families early.
“We’re very pleased to be able to work this out with the village. This new program will be a way for us to make connections with local families before the children are ready for school,” he said.