Hinsdale officials approve food pantry relocation while attempting to address concerns from neighbors

George Wiebe, Chicago Tribune
·2 min read

Last month the Hinsdale Village Board of Trustees first read plans to relocate the Hinsdale Community Services Food Pantry, operating from the Memorial Building, at 19 E. Chicago Avenue, less than half a mile east to the former Humane Society building at 22 N. Elm Street.

Due to concerns brought about by a Hinsdale resident during the meeting, the board Sept. 5 amended the plan to apply concessions, including pushing back the time of operations to reduce after school traffic and a possible inclusion of a stop sign near the relocation site.

The village’s food pantry runs from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Monday and Friday, to avoid school traffic the pantry has agreed to begin and end operating 15 minutes later.

During Tuesday Sept. 5′s Village Board of Trustees meeting, Board President Tom Cauley said an average of 65 cars on Monday and 68 cars on Friday park at the current pantry during operating hours, and projects those same numbers will stop at the new location.

“I think we can pretty much peg what traffic will be, the fact that the food pantry is already in existence in this building,” Cauley said during the meeting.

The relocation would also entail major renovations to the new site including building elevations, construction of a loading area, landscaping repairs to the existing parking spaces and the installation of a sidewalk on the north side of the building.

There are only four parking spaces outside the intended relocation site causing concern over cars backing up throughout Elm Street.

To address parking concerns, the lot at the Seventh-day Adventist Church, at 201 N. Oak Street will open at 2 p.m. so pantry goers can avoid stopping along Elm Street. The church’s parking lot had been used for the same purpose for UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale mobile food pantry which discontinued operations in June.

“If the traffic going from the church on Walnut Street to the food pantry on Elm Street creates a problem we can address it at that point,” Cauley said.