How would you feel about a water tower being erected on the Square, rising 68 feet above street level atop the building on the northeast corner of Jackson and Benton streets? No, not a real water tower – a “stealth” one to hide antennas that T-Mobile needs to provide expanded 5G cellular service for its […]
Third time was the charm for property at 217 W. Judd St. to come before the Historic Preservation Commission, which has voted to recommend a certificate of appropriateness on the site where next-door owner MBI consultants had demolished an old house. Almost a year ago, the commission recommended the consulting business not be allowed to […]
Stripping paint and removing a wood awning and siding are planned as part of a project to make a Church Street building look more like the brick structure it was when it was built about 115 years ago. The Woodstock Historic Preservation Commission last week recommended a certificate of appropriateness for the makeover proposed by […]
City must be more responsive to historic preservation concerns I am contacting you to say that I support the rationale of the [Historic Preservation] Commission for not certifying the appropriateness of the “restoration” work on the Woodstock train station. I have watched with dismay in the past as the previous mayor and past councils essentially […]
Commission-level work is an important if largely ignored (by the public) function of city government in Woodstock. Volunteer members of more than a dozen advisory commissions do the dirty work in the trenches, which includes vetting petitions and applications for compliance with city ordinances and standards while challenging petitioners and applicants to fully explain their […]
Three months after the more than $200,000 restoration of the Metra station in Woodstock was dedicated during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the city’s Historic Preservation Commission voted 5-0 to deny the project a certificate of appropriateness. Although the five commission members realized the practical futility of their action, they wanted to go on record about how […]
When the future clashed with the past last October at a meeting of Woodstock’s Historic Preservation Commission, the past won. In a rematch last week before the City Council, the future came out ahead. Council members, who have final authority in such matters, voted unanimously 6-0 to allow demolition of a house in the city’s […]
Development of an apartment complex north of the Metra depot is back on the fast track. Plans for Central Station, on the former Die Cast factory site, received a certificate of appropriateness last week from the Woodstock Historic Preservation Commission for the first of a three-phase housing project by Pancor Development of Elgin. Pancor principal […]
Members of the commission voted unanimously to recommend MBI Staffing not be allowed to tear down a “contributing building” of unknown age at 217 W. Judd St. in the city’s Downtown Business Historic Preservation District. MBI CEO Tom Wilson told commissioners he wanted to create more parking for a planned expansion of his business next […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
