Niles Year in Review: Golf Mill mall redevelopment, deputized cats, library union, garbage fees

A $440 million redevelopment deal for the Golf Mill Shopping Center, the police department deputizing feral cats for rat control, and the library signing a union contract after tumultuous years of budget cuts were some of the top stories in Niles last year.

Read on for more top stories in Niles, including a senior prank that brought farm animals to a high school.

Village Board OK’s preliminary agreement for Golf Mill redevelopment.

The Niles Village Board approved a nonbinding agreement between the village and the developer and owner of the Golf Mill Mall for $96 million in tax increment financing “pay-as-you-go” loans in September.

Sterling Organization, the mall’s developer and owner, has planned two phases for renovations at Golf Mill, according to the term sheet approved by the village board. According to Niles officials, construction could start early next year.

In the first construction phase, plans call for tearing down most of the mall’s interior and constructing or redeveloping 550,000 square feet of new or renovated retail space. According to the plans, a 300-unit luxury apartment building will be built near the northeast corner of Church Street and Greenwood Avenue.

Phase One plans also include a privately-owned plaza for public gatherings and a water feature or pond with a replica of Golf Mill’s original water wheel.

Phase Two plans call for mixed-use, entertainment, hotel, office, residential, retail, or medical building uses, per the agreement. As many as 600 more apartments could also be created during that second phase, according to the village’s economic development director, John Melaniphy.

Five feral cats deputized by the Niles Police Department

In March, the village board enacted a wildlife feeding ordinance to curb rat issues. According to village spokesman Mitch Johnson, “The village started to experience an increase in rodent activity shortly after the restaurants had closed (due to COVID-19 lockdowns), and the rodents had to find other food sources.”

The ordinance was meant to provide guidelines on bird feeders and platform feeders. The police department had its own approach to curbing the rat population: deputizing feral cats.

Sarwat Hakim, of the 7800 block of North Nordica Avenue, had been watching over five feral cats for a few years. Hakim had been feeding one of the cats that gave birth to the four others and 15 others that had been adopted.

In August, the police department began a two-month pilot program with Hakim and the feral cats by providing her with shelters for the cats. In an email to Pioneer Press, Niles Police Sergeant Dan Borkowski said the village is basing the program on a similar initiative in Chicago.

After the two-month pilot program was over, Pioneer Press analyzed rat complaints made to the village in the surrounding the areas of the 7800 block of North Nordica Avenue and found out that there weren’t any rat complaints made within 1,500 feet of the block where the cats were housed.

Borkowski told Pioneer Press that the department considered the pilot program a success and decided to continue and expand it, pending on cat availability and host family availability.

Library raises levy, signs contract, hires new director

After years of budget cuts, a new library board and a 19-month hiring freeze, the Niles Maine District Library Board of Trustees voted to raise the tax levy by 5% and approve a union contract with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees.

On a 5-2 split vote in October, the board decided to raise the tax levy.

Trustee Jason Trunco said the levy was necessary for the library to avoid going into debt and to address the need to fix the roof. The roof was initially going to be repaired in 2020 and was dripping water in August 2022.

Trustee Umair Qadeer supported the levy, saying that on average, the increase in property tax for a homeowner would be equivalent to less than $10 a month.

In November, the board unanimously voted on a new union contract with AFSCME. The union represents 62 workers, and according to a spokesperson, employees would see immediate raises ranging from 5% to 34%, depending on how long the library has employed them.

Bomb threats, threats to schools

During the fall season, multiple libraries along the North Shore closed their doors after receiving bomb threats. Those threats were also made to schools, businesses, government buildings and other locations.

Jacob Spiro, 23, of the 4600 block of Davis Street, Skokie, was arrested on Oct. 9 by Niles Police with assistance from Morton Grove Police and the FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office charges him with felonies for disorderly conduct. According to Skokie Police Department documents, 56 incidents were reported in Morton Grove, Wilmette, Niles, Chicago and Des Plaines. Spiro was also charged in DuPage County for bomb threats made to the Aurora Public Library.

In a separate case, Adam Provost, 31, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was charged with five felonies for making threats and sending white granular substances to Niles police, the mayor and a village board trustee. No injuries were reported, and police said there was never a credible threat.

According to Niles Police, Provost also made threats to and sent a white granular substance to Culver School, where Provost had attended and where his mother, Carol Provost, works as an administrative assistant. The school district decided not to press charges.

Some parents felt that the district should have pressed charges against Provost; others also said the school district should have done more to communicate what happened at the time of the threat.

In a separate incident, Schools in District 63 went into lockdown mode in November after being advised by the DuPage County Sheriff’s Department that a man was making threats to schools within a mile of a middle school.

In charges the DeKalb County State’s Attorney filed in DeKalb County Circuit Court, 28-year-old Jesse Christian of Des Plaines is accused of leaving voice messages for the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office saying, “I might participate in a school shooting” and indicating he might “blow a bomb up in a school.”

Cow runs through Niles

Some residents were startled to see a caw running down their streets on an April morning after it escaped during what officials called a prank gone wrong.

Niles Police said the cow and a pig were bought online by students from Northridge Preparatory School, a Catholic high school for boys, who were bringing in live farm animals as an end-of-the-year practical joke.

The cow was captured and sent to the Historic Wagner Farm and then to the Hooved Animal Humane Society in Woodstock. The cow was named Blossom after a Facebook naming contest.

Unpopular garbage fee

After the Niles Village Board voted in April to approve an approximately $50-per-quarter garbage fee, residents complained about the move, which totals about $200 per year for most homes. After hearing pushback, the board moved to offer a $5 discount on each bill for seniors and people who use 35-gallon garbage cans. However, seniors must apply for the discount and submit proof of age.

First amendment concerns

Public commenters at a June 27 Village Board meeting were concerned that a newly proposed ordinance on parade permits would violate the First Amendment.

The proposed ordinance at the time said it would ban “indecent shows.” Some residents feared that because the ordinance did not define what “indecent” meant, LGBTQ events could be targeted, similar to bans in Florida and Tennessee.

“People are reading too much into it,” Niles Police Chief Luis Tigera said. “We’ve been looking at all ordinances as it relates to gatherings, parades and we just wanted to be proactive and do cleanup on language to ensure that we’re in concert with the Constitution, with the rule of law.”

After receiving tips from the American Civil Liberties Union, the ordinance’s language on “indecent shows” was struck from the ordinance that passed in August. The new ordinance requires parades, protests and any kind of public assembly to seek permits and a security deposit on insurance for gatherings involving more than 50 people.

Spontaneous assemblies or groups responding within 48 hours to world or local events that could not have been anticipated by a group will not need to file for a permit.