By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
At the City Council meeting held Tuesday, July 5 (a day later than usual, due to the holiday), 5th Ward Alderman Jim Kennedy, Chair of the City’s Public Works and Buildings (PWB) Committee, offered an update on the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the Elmhurst Park District for the construction, operation and maintenance of storm water and other improvements to Golden Meadows Park. He assured that the parties seem to be in agreement, that no further changes were likely to be made. He said once “all the i’s were dotted and t’s were crossed,” it would be coming before City Council.
“To highlight where we’re at, the project is still the same – it will be 12 acre-feet, which will help 20 homes and give them 100-year level of protection,” Kennedy said. “The basic IGA will be that we as a City will own and maintain the area.”
Kennedy said the City would be obtaining three appraisals, using the middle one to determine the value of the land for which the City would pay the Park District so replacement land could be bought.
“The way that the agreement will be structured is that we will pay up to one-and-one-half (1.5) times the value of the land to the park district, based on what they eventually find as replacement property,” he said. “If it happens to be less than 1.5 times, we will pay that number; if it’s in excess, we will still only pay that 1.5 number.”
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has been involved and conversations with them have been fruitful, according to Kennedy.
“They are good with the approach we are taking,” he said. “They are now involving the National Parks Service because they need a voice in this. Then we can move forward with signing the IGA.”
Second Ward Alderman Bob Dunn spoke up.
“This particular project, as I mentioned last time, the report that came before the council started out as a pretty nice project on a per-home cost basis,” he said. “We had a nice concept on the east lobe, working with the Park District. And as the design concept evolved over time and moved from east to west, then it became not dual use, we were instead buying the property outright, but not even buying it for the value, but for more than 1.5 times the price of the property.
“It was 14 acre-feet at one point, now it’s at 12 acre-feet. The cost has escalated, it was originally supposed to be $2.6 million, then it was $3.4 million and now, with the cost of the land, you’re looking somewhere in the area of $4.6 million for the whole project or $230,000 a home.
“To me that’s high, that’s a lot to spend on a project. I have concerns. I’m glad we’re able to design and build some storm water mitigation for these homes, but I do think the price is high. I do have concerns.”
Fourth Ward Alderman Kevin York shared his comments, especially happy because the improvements will be happening in his Ward. He thanked the PWB Committee for its hard work on the project.
“This is huge for the people on Pine and Avon and it’s really going to solve a lot of problems,” he said. “They are very happy with this and I’m so glad to be getting this done.
“The only thing that saddens me is that we have to talk about multiples of value here. I just think that is not good, and I’m going to leave it at that. We look forward to getting it signed and done.”
Fifth Ward Alderman Chris Healy echoed York’s sentiments.
“First of all, I support the agreement, I plan to vote for it, but like Alderman York, I find it very distasteful that we have to buy taxpayer land, and that’s basically what this is,” he said. “We’re having to not only pay for, but pay more than its worth for land that the taxpayers already own.
“It’s a shame it has come to this, but it is what it is. I agree that it provides relief to a hard-hit area, so for that reason — because I don’t think we can do much else — I will support it.”
The report passes 12-1 (Alderman Noel Talluto was absent.) Alderman Dunn was the sole “nay” vote.
