Batavia aldermen want more info before voting on Campana proposal

Batavia aldermen still want more information before they vote on the proposal to put 80 apartments in the Campana building.

Among other things, they want:

• To see stormwater-management plans, which would be needed if parking were enlarged to 301 spaces. The developer and city workers think the plan will only need 206 spaces. Several aldermen favor building 301 parking spaces right away.

• To know what kind of outdoor amenities the developer would put in, should a planned soccer field prove not feasible.

• To know whether Geneva Township opposes building a sidewalk along nearby Allen Drive, as city staff says, The sidewalk would serve children walking to Western Avenue Elementary School. Geneva Township Highway Commissioner Mike Abts, in a letter sent to the city, says that putting in such a sidewalk would be problematic. it would require filling in drainage ditches for placement of the sidewalks and installing curbs, gutters and a stormwater sewer to handle stormwater instead. He wrote that it is also unclear if the township has the legal right to put a sidewalk in its right of way, and that when he asked residents if they would allow a sidewalk, they said "no."

• To know when the state and Kane County plan to expand the intersection of Fabyan Parkway and Batavia Avenue (Route 31). Replacing the Fabyan bridge over the Fox River is on the county's 2018 to-do list, according to its five-year transportation plan. The 2040 Recommended Roadway Plan calls for widening Fabyan to six lanes from Randall Road to the DuPage/Kane County line.

"I just don't feel like this is something we can move on," 5th Ward Alderman Mark Uher said Tuesday. He also questioned spending about $375,000 per unit for subsidized housing. "I feel like there is a better use of taxpayer money than to spend the money for what it is going to cost."

History, costs

Evergreen Real Estate Group estimates it will cost $30 million to buy and renovate the building to put in 80 apartments. Sixty-four of the units would be designated for government-subsidized renters. The company has received $12 million in federal housing tax credits, and about $3 million in federal historic-preservation tax credits. Without those, the project is unfeasible, said David Block, the firm's development director.

The site is on the National Register of Historic Places, so changes to its exterior have to be approved by the federal and state governments. "This just may be a building that is not viable for anything in today's day and age," Uher said.

Fourth Ward Alderman-select Tony Malay disagreed: "I think we have an opportunity not only to preserve a building, but we have an opportunity to give a hand up to some people who are really, really hurting."

People reiterated their concerns that apartments would worsen traffic problems at the intersection. Several also said low-income housing would reduce the value of nearby properties, and said the former factory was not suitable for human habitation. They again said not enough parking was planned, and some said they believe information they provide to city staff isn't getting passed to aldermen.

Second Ward Alderman Alan Wolff said speed limits should be lowered on Fabyan and Route 31, and that he wanted answers about the intersection and the stormwater now, "not three years from now."

As far as the potential tenants?

"I don't have a problem with us having mixed income, low income, whatever you want to call it," Wolff said. "And people that don't like that or don't want that, they can move somewhere else."

The council will discuss the matter, for the third time, Oct. 10.