New Kane panel leader not sold on Settler's Hill cross country track
It's been four months since the Kane County Board decided to spend $200,000 for the initial engineering and study of a cross country facility at the former Settler's Hill landfill. And the person now in charge of overseeing the board's deliberations on that facility said no more will be spent if projections show it can't make money.
County board member Kurt Kojzarek is the new chairman of the board's development committee. That's the same committee once steered by former Geneva-based board member Mike Donahue, who did not seek re-election after a self-imposed term limit.
Kojzarek, who lives in Gilberts, said he's still not sold on projections that the cross country facility could pull in $225,000 a year in parking revenue from as many as 45 events.
The committee authorized a financial analysis by an outside consultant to determine the facility's true potential. The results of that study still weren't available during Kojzarek's first meeting as committee chairman Wednesday.
"I don't want to build a facility that we can't maintain," Kojzarek said before the meeting. "We want that infrastructure to be self-sustaining."
Kojzarek said he recognizes proponents of the plan see the pending financial analysis as inevitably supporting construction of the facility. But he wants to see the full details before counting himself as a supporter.
"I'm just cautious," he said. "I don't want to go full-blown into it without knowing more information. I'd love to make a profit. If we could do a break-even, I'm happy with that. I just don't want to see a loss.
"That's common sense. We don't want to lose money on it, and we don't want to leave it hanging out there forever."
There are five new members on the nine-member development committee. County board members Mark Davoust, Joe Haimann, John Martin, Brian Pollock and Mike Kenyon are new to the committee. Gone or reassigned to different committees are Donahue, Becky Gillam, T.R. Smith, Melisa Taylor, John Hoscheit and Barb Wojnicki.
Martin told the Daily Herald in September, while campaigning for a county board seat, he is "pretty much in sync" with the concept plans for Settler's Hill.
"We won't know how the feasibility study will come out until it's completed, but, on a preliminary basis, it seems like it will be a good utilization of the east side of that landfill," he said. "And, if the projections hold, it may be an economic boost for the area."
His opponent for the county board seat didn't agree.
"I just don't see spending a bunch of money on a landfill that's eventually going to sink," Martha Hanna said at the time. "I'd love to see somebody from the NCAA say, 'We're going to have this track, and we're going to maintain it.' But I don't hear anybody else saying anything about the track except for the county. There's way too many questions."
Kane County officials also said last month that Waste Management wants to rehash the legal contracts that cover liability for any possible mishaps involved with reusing the landfill site for recreational purposes. Waste Management, the county and forest preserve district share that liability at various points on the 700-acre Fabyan campus.