Naperville to tackle Sportsman's Park lead problem

Naperville city and park district officials have agreed to work together to rid Sportsman's Park of lead contamination.

Council members Tuesday, at the park district's urging, enrolled the city in a state Environmental Protection Agency Site Remediation Program aimed at ridding the park grounds of about six decades' worth of lead contamination from trapshooting at the site along West Street near downtown.

Still to be worked out is how much each agency will pay and what their staff responsibilities will be for the project. The city owns the property but has leased it to the park district since 1988.

The property has been used for shooting sports since roughly 1937. Only steel pellets have been used there since 1998 when a settlement agreement signed by the city, park district and others banned lead shot and adopted certain environmental protections enforced by the IEPA.

Grant Wehrli, the only council member to speak on the issue, said he is concerned the cleanup cost will be an issue but agreed it's important to have a plan to remove the lead.

Park district Executive Director Ray McGury said he hopes to meet with EPA officials in Springfield in the next few weeks.

“They will dictate to us what we need to do and that's the $64,000 question,” he said Wednesday, “although I think it (the cleanup) will cost much more than that.”

“There is no clear definition that says who's responsible for what, but I anticipate we'll share those costs once we know what they are in about a year or so, once all the testing is complete.”

The district has maintained EPA-recommended levels of lead in certain areas of the park, but the site remediation program is designed to rid the entire site of lead once it is no longer used for shooting practice.

The program also gives the park district and city the flexibility to set their own timeline to clean the remaining contaminated areas.

“I'm thrilled the city is on board unanimously,” McGury said. “We're all going to move forward and do what we believe, collectively, is right for the community.”