United4Northbrook is a new team of community leaders who are helping qualified candidates run for Village Trustee and Board President. The U4N candidates are committed to ensuring public safety, providing full transparency, and acting in a pro-business manner to advance Northbrook’s prosperity.

The U4N team is also committed to maintaining the value of your home.

Village Trustees Kathryn Ciesla and Muriel Collison are considering a plan that would substantially reduce property values in our village. Their plan – the additional unit ordinance – would allow most properties in Northbrook to replace one house with two or three dwelling units or for houses to add an additional dwelling unit in the backyard. Imagine your neighborhood crowded with twice as many dwelling units!

The plan is part of the overall “affordable housing” program that Ciesla and Collision are advancing, but they haven’t passed this portion of the ordinance yet. Ciesla is running for Village Board President and Collision is running for Trustee. So, they’re waiting to act until after the election to act on the additional unit ordinance.

Collison knows you may disapprove of the ordinance. In fact, she admitted it at the November 5, 2019, Village Committee of the Whole meeting.

“… I would have a real problem if I’m spending all this money and putting everything into my house and my neighbor can now turn their house into a three dwelling unit or my back door neighbor can have a separate person living in their backyard…  I think a lot of people will feel that way…    I think that would be very disastrous…”

Moreover, during that same conversation, a Village employee replied to Collison’s comment above and said “Particularly if there is a public hearing process.”  That was followed by laughter from the Board.  Collison then admitted, “Yea, I think it would be disastrous.”

So not only do they want to change the make-up of our neighborhoods – which would ruin your property values – but they want to do so without you knowing about it!

Do not give the Northbrook Caucus slated candidates the opportunity to make decisions like this – particularly without resident input or knowledge.

On April 6, please vote Gene Marks for President, and for Trustees Christopher Lay, Robert Burns and Ana Mendez McGuinnes. They will not let this happen to our town.