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Politics & Government

Meet the Village Trustee Candidates: Ed Young

Lisle Patch is featuring a profile a day of the five candidates vying for openings in this spring's village trustee election.

Editor's note: This story was corrected on March 4 at 6 p.m. In the second paragraph, we meant to say that Young did not support the development of a Meijer store in the village, a project which he has opposed for 12 years. Patch regrets the error.

Young contacted both Bob Bajek and myself regarding the error on Friday evening; he requested we remove the piece. We are reposting the story today with permission from Mr. Young.

 

Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What do you need to know about this spring's village board trustee candidates? We will be running one candidate profile each day this week (in alphabetical order for fairness's sake) at 11 a.m.

Have questions? Keep these profiles for reference prior to the Mar. 23 , sponsored by the Lisle Area Chamber of Commerce, where the dialogue will be driven by resident questions.

Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Looking for a specific candidate's profile? Here's when to find them.

Monday: Mark Boyle

Tuesday: Cathy Cawiezel

Wednesday: Gary Ledvora

Thursday: Richard Wilkie

 

 

Ed Young

Ed Young said is running for a village trustee position to continue the progress he has been a part of the last 12 years.

Young, a certified public accountant who is looking for a job, has served three terms as village trustee. He got involved with local government during the Meijer issue in 1999 when the corporation tried to develop land near Benedictine University along Maple Avenue. He was part of a group that told the Village Board it did not want Meijer in the neighborhood. His group was successful in keeping Meijer out of Lisle; he ran for trustee shortly after the victory.

“Once elected, I learned a lot of things from this process and have enjoyed it,” said Young, a 26-year resident of Lisle. “We have contributed a lot and have seen Lisle progress the last 12 years. We’ve come a long way and there’s much further to do. I have been able to contribute some and hope to continue.”

Meijer still owns the land, Young said, so the issue is not fully resolved. Other unresolved projects include the completion of the $20 million Lisle Master Plan and fixing the levees to the east branch of the DuPage River.

The master plan needs to provide a good business environment to be finished, Young said. He added if developers know how the town could help with projects and developers clearly know their obligations, there would be less uncertainty.

“We have some programs like a restaurant grant and we are coming close to getting some name restaurants in here,” he said.

One reason why the master plan is behind other neighboring municipalities, Young said, is because Lisle did not create a TIF District to fund the project.

Young said the levees have not been repaired for many years, and the Village Board has been trying to address this.

 “I’m concerned that they haven’t been repaired and if they should breech, that would be catastrophic,” Young said.

The vote creating a $20 million TIF district, along with state incentives, to bring Navistar to Lisle was significant. Young thinks Navistar will be a great addition to Lisle’s economy.

“When we finished all the agreements, that was one of the most important votes that I have ever taken in my entire career,” Young said. “That’s 2,800 new jobs to Lisle. The economic activity Navistar will bring will be fantastic. If you look at TIF history in general, most of the school boards will vote against a TIF, but that wasn’t the case in this one.”

Young said property values are based on the purchase price, and that Navistar will pay taxes on the evaluation of three times the value of that property.

“It’s millions for the school board,” Young said. “That is very significant.”

Young received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Ohio University and worked at Central States Funds for about 26 years. He is married to his wife, Lene, and has two children, Sara and Andrea. 

He was a founding member and first president of the Citizens for Responsible and Appropriate Development in Lisle, is a current board member for the Lisle Convention and Visitor Bureau and has coached Lisle Park District baseball and basketball.

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