CRESTON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Creston Village Board of Trustees heard an update from Creston-Dement Library Board President Doug Kroupa on the ongoing construction of a new library in the village.

The project broke ground March 15 at the corner of Main and Cederholm Streets. A referendum passed in June 2022 that allowed the Creston-Dement Public Library District to issue $2.2 million in bonds to build a new library building on the land that was donated years ago for just that purpose. The main reason for the desire for a new building is the library outgrowing its current space at 107 S. Main St.

Kroupa said water service connection work will soon take place on the project in coming weeks, which will cause road closures and the loss of water service for homes in the area for short amounts of time. The work is planned to begin in the next 2-3 weeks and will take 2-4 weeks to complete.

"We have 3-4 houses that will lose water during that time period for a period of 4-8 hours depending on the construction," Kroupa said. "It will also shut down Main Street for that period of time for the digging. The second utility connection will be on Cederholm and will be across the road for 4-6 hours. After construction is completed we'll repair the road.”

Grading work has already taken place on the construction project and footings and other utility connections are the next steps in the work.

The library board hopes for a fall 2025 opening.

OCEDC

The board heard a presentation by Ogle County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Charlene Coulombe on the services her organization can offer the village.

In recent months, trustees have discussed joining the OCEDC, which is a newly-formed organization that represents all of Ogle County and aims to have a county-wide concerted economic development effort to see improvements for all of its member municipalities and the county.

Coulombe spoke about 240 acres within Creston owned by a developer that is being looked at for development.

"The good news is there are some deals out there and those deals then could become a building that might end up in your community," Coulombe said.

The OCEDC is made up of member taxing bodies Ogle County, Polo, Oregon, Mt. Morris, Byron and Rochelle. The village would need to make a monetary contribution in the future to join the OCEDC and receive its services.

Coulombe said she has the ability to post land and building sites on online marketplaces and networks that can be looked at by a wide variety of developers. Finding and applying for grants, working with local existing businesses, and attracting home developers are also skills she and the OCEDC can offer.

"We're a service to you and the community," Coulombe said. "It's not easy to have an economic development director in every community. That's why we're sharing in the OCEDC and I'm here to help you."

Subdivision

During the meeting, the village board heard from Tim Hayden of Hayden Real Estate, the new owner of the Creston Commons subdivision.

Hayden closed on the ownership of the subdivision at the end of December. The village has hoped in recent years to see clean up, new homes and a new agreement with the subdivision's ownership. Hayden Real Estate has been building houses in the area for 15 years.

Hayden expressed a desire Tuesday to meet with the village in the future regarding a revised development agreement and the subdivision's water infrastructure.

Upcoming home building plans will depend on the water system, Hayden said. Home construction would likely start on both sides of Pierce Street in two different groups, Hayden said.

"We'd like to get it going," Hayden said. "With no advertising whatsoever, we've been getting some inquiries and we're optimistic that there's interest."

More cleanup and tree removal and burning is planned in the future in the subdivision area, Hayden said.

Engineering

Village President Tom Byro read an engineering update sent in by Village Engineer Kevin Bunge. Byro said an ongoing storm sewer project from the train tracks to Cederholm Street could go out for bid within a month if the board desires it.

Byro also said Bunge reported that the quiet zone project to end train horns in Creston is on hold currently, pending further direction.

Website

The board unanimously approved an expenditure for a new website designer. The cost for the new website will be split between the village, Dement Township and the Creston Park District. Village Clerk Jennifer Payton said the site will include information on other organizations in Creston and should be up and running by July 1. The village's current site is in need of an update due to its age, she said.

The total cost of the website update, which will be split between the organizations, is $3,795 for the first year and $2,595 yearly.

Illinois Route 38

Byro said the village recently received a letter from the Illinois Department of Transportation detailing its plans to mill, patch and resurface approximately 3.55 miles of Illinois Route 38 from west of Mulford Road to the DeKalb County line. The project is scheduled to start on June 14 of this year.