The Villa Park Village Board voted 5-0 Monday, March 24, to approve a zoning change that will allow off-track betting in the village. Trustees Jeff Blankensop and Richard Illian were absent.

“It’s a positive step for North Avenue,” Trustee Tom Cullerton said.

Arlington Park wants to build a 10,000-square-foot betting parlor and Italian restaurant at the site of a former Denny’s restaurant adjacent to North Park Mall on North Avenue.

The Village Board approved that concept at its Feb. 25 meeting, then the proposal went before Illinois Racing Board, which granted its approval last week.

“I am pleased,” Village President Joyce Stupegia said. “It’s the beginning of change of the North Avenue corridor.”

That section of North Avenue is a tax increment financing district, she said.

Redeveloping it has topped the Village Board’s list of priorities.

“It’s a much-needed push for North Avenue,” Cullerton said. “It’s a destination spot for people who aren’t from Villa Park.”

Village Manager Bob Niemann has said the facility could bring in $100,000 in proceeds from the betting parlor portion in its first year of operations, with the possibility of an additional $25,000 from the restaurant and sports bar portions.

But the project has not been without controversy. Anti-gambling proponents have spoken against it, including resident Kathy Gilroy.

“Unlike the power-trip that some trustees are on, your decision is not whether residents have the right, or the choice, to gamble or not,” Gilroy said Monday night. “I hate to tell you, residents already have that choice. Your decision is solely whether we should have one more gambling outlet in Villa Park.”

Cullerton said the development is sorely needed.

“Realistically, it’s just a difference of opinion,” he said of the objections.

Stupegia didn’t foresee complications from allowing off-track betting in the village.

“I believe it will work,” she said. “I don’t see any major problems.”

Plans for the facility will next go to the village’s engineers, and then the site plans will have to be approved, Stupegia said. But if all goes as planned, the facility could be up and running by late fall, she said.