Plans for a new early learning center in Antioch are moving forward once again after the Village Board voted earlier this month to approve permits for the facility.
The proposed site is at the southwest corner of Tiffany Road and North Avenue. After the Village Planning Board voted 4-3 to recommend denying permits for the facility’s proposed 25-acre site, citing traffic issues, Antioch School District 34 warned that delays to its plans to replace the Mary Kay McNeill Early Learning Center could prove costly.
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District 34 Superintendent Aron Borowiak said after the vote that school system officials had been left “surprised and disappointed” by the decision. Since then, he said the school district has spoken extensively with the Village Board, and met with the mayor and village administrator to “make this work.”
The approval comes with several conditions, he said, to address residents’ concerns. Those include a traffic control manager, provided by the district, staggering start times within the district to spread out traffic, and having overflow parking for the school so events don’t lead to people parking on neighborhood streets.
The district and village will partner for installing sidewalks that extend beyond the school property into the neighborhoods, and the gym and playground will be accessible to the community, he said.
Borowiak said the district will also work with the village in installing two turn lanes: northbound on Tiffany Road at the Highview Drive entrance, and westbound on North Avenue at Trevor Road. Plans for all-way stops were removed to keep traffic flowing, he said.
In response to concerns from the nearby Woods of Antioch subdivision that drivers will use it as a way to get around traffic, Borowiak said the district has agreed to conduct traffic studies before and after the school’s opening to determine if there is any impact.
However, the school district has made no agreements about what happens after that study, Borowiak said, and that would be the village’s responsibility. The next Village Board meeting is Wednesday for approvals, and the project remains on schedule, he said.
Aging infrastructure
The Mary Kay McNeill Early Learning Center currently operates out of a building first opened in 1928. According to the district’s webpage, it’s struggling with limited space, and the staff is working with students in hallways or sharing “tiny rooms.”
Borowiak described it as a “facility on its last legs.”
School board President Mary Beth Hulting said the current building requires “escalating maintenance.” The proposed new facility will bring the center into compliance with modern standards — including an Illinois law requiring districts to offer full-day kindergarten by the 2027-28 school year — and teaching styles, serving pre-K students and kindergartners from the district’s elementary schools.
“Our vision for Antioch is to be the destination district in Lake County,” Hulting said. “This new building would really be a showcase and a spectacular learning spot for the pre-K and the kindergarteners.”
The project is estimated to cost about $58 million, according to Hulting, without additional burden on taxpayers or the need for a referendum. According to the district website, it’ll be paid for with existing bond capacity and new state-permitted self-funding.
Current plans would have the new school completed and welcoming students by August of 2028.
According to Hulting, about 70% of their student population lives near the district’s proposed site, greatly reducing busing needs. It’s also near the fire department, meaning quick response times in emergencies, she said.