Continuing on yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that the
Warrenville (Ill. )
City Council had purchased a vacant land parcel with an empty manufacturing
plant on it. This had been the site for
fabricating wooden windows and doors many years ago. The building had been used
for different purposes over the years since, but mostly the building was empty.
A large parking and distribution driveway complex became a dusty, gravelly void
in the center of our town.
Over the years several businesses inquired about using the
space. Each request was carefully considered and pretty much left to market
forces to determine if the buyers and sellers could reach an agreement. But then things changed.
The city became interested both in economic development and
creating a downtown center, even a small one. All research informed the city
that more housing units adjacent to the area would help small shops, retail
services and coffee shops succeed. This would make a walkable downtown area,
they said. And an attraction for others to gather there, too.
The empty manufacturing site seemed ideal. Immediately
adjacent to existing housing, light industry, the City Hall, Recreation Center
Meanwhile other buyers arrived on the scene. One in
particular was a regional private ambulance service searching for a dispatch
center and fleet maintenance garage. The idea of a hundred ambulances coming
and going 24/7 in the area, especially behind an established neighborhood of
homes, seemed very inappropriate. The
council quickly realized it had to protect not only the residents nearby but
also the community’s development options for the future. What would best serve
the community?
To preserve and protect the council bought the property for
$2.2 million using idle funds in the water and sewer reserves. The inter-fund
loan agreement continued to pay the water and sewer fund an interest rate the
same as its investment return it had been earning. The plan was to sell the
property to developers at the appropriate time and maybe even turn a profit! If
not, at least options had been maintained for the community.
As it turned out the land was marginally polluted with
industrial waste and needed to be cleaned up. The city paid for some of this
work and obtained grants from various agencies to pay for most of the clean up.
Probably $300,000 of city expense paid for the removal of the empty building
and soil restoration work. So now the property has cost the city $2.5 million.
Meanwhile, the real estate recession hit full square in
2007/08 and continues into 2013. Property prices are rebounding and interest in
future development is returning. The neighboring 3-year road reconstruction
project of Butterfield Road/Route 56 is now complete and the neighborhood is
prime for implementing the plans carefully set by the city. Will someone arrive on the scene and buy the
property? Will they pay the full carrying cost the city has borne? Will the
development plans come alive as so many have hoped?
These remain unanswered questions. Time will tell if plans
were good enough. Time will tell if this community investment will pay off. But
one thing remains sure; many poor opportunities were repelled for the good of
the neighborhood. Many good options for the future were preserved.
Possibilities are like that. We have to make them happen. We
have to plan for them. We have to have a vision of the future. We have to have
faith that our futures are worth working for. Together. Not for private gain
but for good of community.
I’m proud our community had the courage to pursue its
dreams. It did so in the open with lots of input from anyone interested in
providing it. Together the future will develop the way the community wants it
to. Not an easy task but one well attended to by people of goodwill.
August 22, 2013
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