Itasca mayor candidates have differing sights on golf course land

The two Itasca mayor candidates oppose a program to build facts center properties on a golfing training course assets but disagree on no matter whether the land must be redeveloped at all.

Incumbent Jeff Pruyn, who has served as mayor considering that 2009, is trying to get a fourth term. He is staying challenged by newcomer Thomas Pawlicki, a retired investment banker.

In the course of a modern endorsement job interview with the Daily Herald, Pruyn and Pawlicki weighed in on a proposal to assemble three 100,000-sq.-foot data center properties on land that belongs to Itasca Nation Club. Club CEO Larry Swets desires to use about 34 acres — approximately one particular-quarter of the club’s home — for the data middle elaborate together North Prospect Highway

However, the program would require village board acceptance. And when the proposal was reviewed in January by a village board committee, it was achieved with resistance from citizens and trustees. No official software has been submitted for the system fee to evaluate.

Pawlicki claimed he was motivated to run for mayor because he strongly opposes the knowledge centre proposal. He life around the golf system and collected far more than 300 signatures on a petition opposing the venture.

Pruyn explained he believes that having one-loved ones houses — not facts center properties — on the golf course land would reward the village in the lengthy operate.

“I believe we want to find much more heads and beds,” Pruyn stated. “So we require to locate regions right here to set in household housing. We do need some additional population progress to support the progress that we all want.”

Pruyn, 56, acknowledges that Itasca Elementary District 10 opposes increasing residential housing. He is trying to get to discover a compromise that will work for the district and the village’s development programs.

Pawlicki, 73, claims he is opposed to the concept of having residences on the golf system land. He stated including residents would overwhelm village means.

“I never see exactly where constructing the households aids us in anyway,” Pawlicki claimed. “This would cause problems in the law enforcement and fireplace office. We only have one particular ambulance … and we would have to build an additional college.”