Dixmoor using collections and tax liens to crack down on absentee vacant lot owners

The Dixmoor village board of trustees has passed a new ordinance to take care of neglected vacant lots during its regular meeting on May 28, opening the door for more legal options against owners of vacant lots who don’t maintain them. 

Such options include a collection agency and reallocating resources to place liens on chronically neglected lots. 

“We have one whole half a block that a gentleman owns, and he doesn’t care, it’s just sitting,” Roberts said. “It’s right by a school, as well as it’s a big safety issue… We’re not going to have that in Dixmoor, so our thing is to get ahead of the problem.” One of Roberts’ primary concerns is the untrimmed foliage that often reaches out of the lot and onto the neighboring sidewalk and the possibility of robbers using the cover to ambush passerby. Roberts wants village sanitation crews to spend more time working on projects community members will benefit from.

According to Roberts, the trouble with taking legal action toward absent owners of vacant lots is tracking them down. Many of the lot owners don’t live in Dixmoor. Rather, they live in nearby municipalities like Orland Park or Flossmoor. One lot owner even lives in Mississippi, Roberts said.

“We’ll put the legal team there, but if they don’t come to court, and so forth there’s already a legal issue, because we have a hearing,” Roberts said. “But if they have to go farther, one thing I would like to see in order to really grab their attention is have it go to a higher court.” f that doesn’t work, the village would place a lien on the property in order to seize it from the owner. Along with court proceedings, the village collection agency would work to track down owners for payment of citations and fines. 

“We’ve just been so far behind on new technology ‘till it’s pretty much scary,” Roberts said. “But when I first got in office, we had all these water main breaks and water problems, so those were the types of things I had to deal with before I could get to the point where I’m at now.”

Licensing at Frank’s Pizza and Pub

Lauren Gierman and her family have owned Frank’s Pizza and Pub for two years now. Debate ensued over licensing of a club house space the business has been using for parties. The village board and Mayor showed concern over fire safety and occupancy. “You gotta make sure you have enough exits in that place,” Roberts said during the meeting. “You know, like doors, windows, and all that.”

Gierman disagrees over new licensing however, referencing how the previous owners used the back clubhouse for decades before she took over, something Roberts said shouldn’t have been allowed. “They are suggesting that using our clubhouse may require another license which we disagree with,” Gierman said. “We have not changed any usage and have not exceeded our occupancy.” 

According to Roberts, code enforcers in previous administrations were likely not doing their jobs when it came to examining buildings. Vasselli Law, the village’s corporation counsel, advised Gierman that in order for the board to make an informed decision, they would need to see pictures and a floor plan of the building. 

“I believe the city is not trying to hurt our business and is trying to understand how we do business,” Gierman said in a text message. “I suspect previous administrations turned a blind eye and just collected revenue. I mean them no disrespect, but just want to avoid incremental expenses as we continue to invest and keep a small business afloat in a difficult economic environment.” According to village Clerk Juanita Darden, the issue on the clubhouse will be tabled until the next board meeting. 

Other official business

An Evergreen Park-based real estate developer is seeking to buy an unused parcel of commercial land from the village.

Jerry Berlin, is intending to install a battery storage system that would be hooked up to the Comed power grid. According to Berlin, he is not the business owner but rather the landlord for the company running the facility.

“This opportunity arises for me because of a new law passed in 2026 by the governor that mandates three gigawatts of power to be available throughout the state for this battery storage,” Berlin said. “It’s a small installation, the parcel I require would be 5,000 square feet or more.” As of now negotiations over a parcel and getting a contract together are in the works. 

Other items discussed included cracking down on a teen curfew of 9:00 P.M., loud music after 9:30 P.M., illegal firework usage, and a resident of 146th St. and Hoyne Ave. allegedly using his property as a custom shop for cars.