Park District: September 2008 Archives

There's nothing like a long bicycle ride on a beautiful summer weekend day. And the Naperville Park District wants to make sure that routes for that long ride or run easily lead from the city to other surrounding cities. Officials even are developing a master plan and want residents to offer input in the process. The Sun talked to some residents like Tim Ward who uses the trails frequently for biking and walking. "To get out of the town and into the woods - the peace and serenity of it all," he said.

How do you think the district should improve Naperville's trails? How safe are the intersections and roads that connect to the trails? What routes would you like created or made safer? What are the best trails now or your favorite route?

The Naperville Park District board meets tonight and has a short but significant agenda to tackle. Fresh from hiring Ray McGury to be executive director, the board will conduct a special meeting behind closed doors to consider an invitation to buy the Ponds of Hobson West property. Then the board is set to discuss the Ponds offer in -- gasp -- open session. Then maybe it will act on this latest offer to buy 6 acres for $2.5 million and we can all finally see the matter put to rest for good, or until there's another scheme to unload the land.

Then the park board is expected to hear from people who use the community garden plots on West Street, part of the 300-acre Martin-Mitchell bequest in the heart of Naperville that includes Central high school, Naper Settlement, Edward Hospital, Knoch Park, Naperville Cemetery and Sportsman's Park. Some powerbrokers feel strongly that those garden plots are an underutilization of prime property. They can't stand to see that land used so passively, and every day that the land sits unimproved without some sort of ballfield or recreation center on it just brings them more pain.

Some gardeners and their dirty hoes have caught wind of this, and like freshly spread manure they don't like what they smell in the air. So, in typical Naperville deliberative fashion, the board is expected to hear from gardeners about initiating a process to gather public input about the fate of the garden plots.

Let's cut to the chase. Forget all the other components of the Martin-Mitchell property. Let's just talk about the garden plots. Should they stay there on West Street? There are some who are drooling over that land, and want to set up the green thumbs elsewhere. What say you? Do you agree the property is underutilized? Is it right to relocate the garden plots for the benefit of more active recreational pursuits?

Things are really tough in the housing market. New home sales, especially. Why, some builders are actually offering buy one, get one free deals. For new homes! Builders are facing a glut of new construction in the residential market. Of course, this is a general trend, and you're likely to find pockets of healthy demand if you go looking.

Amid this backdrop, Crestview Builders is making a new pitch to sell its 6-acre Ponds of Hobson West property to the Naperville Park District for $2.5 million, no strings attached. You may recall, the Park District passed on the opportunity previously. Crestview hasn't dropped its price, but it has removed a number of conditions it had attached to the sale. Yep. The Park District can have the land, free and clear. For $2.5 million, or about $416,000 an acre.

Yikes. That's a lot for park space. Heck, Indian Prairie didn't want to pay anything close to that figure per acre to acquire land for a high school. To us, that still seems steep. We'd all love to see that land remain open. But in today's depressed real estate market, we think the park board was smart to pass on the prior offer, and it should be able to negotiate a steep reduction in price if it seriously wants to acquire the Ponds of Hobson West land.

Do you agree? What do you think would be a fair price to pay for the 6 acres? What's the most the Park District should pay, in your opinion?