Naperville Safety Town lease means no traffic court in town
The buildings in Naperville Safety Town are miniature - and so is the rent.
Under a new 10-year lease approved this week by the city of Naperville, the Safety Town Commission will pay $1 a year to rent the 2-acre space containing a replica village and a classroom building to teach kids safety skills.
The commission had a 20-year lease beginning in 1996 when the facility opened. That deal was followed by a one-year lease effective for this year.
During the one-year lease, the city evaluated whether the classroom building could be a site for traffic court hearings. But DuPage County shot down that idea, saying the site fell short of size and security standards for satellite courts.
"Traffic court there is off the table," Mayor Steve Chirico said.
This comes as great news to Safety Town leaders with the Naperville Junior Woman's Club, who started an online petition in fall 2016 against the traffic court possibility. The commission now can continue to provide activities including summer safety camps for 5- and 6-year-olds, a baby-sitting education program, Scouting programs, classes in CPR and self-defense, bike safety nights, trick-or-treating and an Easter program at the campus that was renamed in May 2015 for Naperville Mayor Emeritus A. George Pradel and his late wife Patricia Pradel.
"We have been at the permanent site at the safety campus for 21 years and are excited to have the opportunity to continue educating our youngest citizens and their parents on the importance of safety," Sydney Zuhn, program director for Naperville Safety Town, said.
Instead of establishing a traffic court at the Safety Town building at 1320 Aurora Ave., Chirico said the city will create a courtroom at the municipal center to host hearings about city ordinance violations, such as parking tickets, public urination citations or fines for noisy animals.
The local court service should be available by sometime next spring, Chirico said. An administrative judge and a hearing officer will oversee proceedings, which will take place at 400 S. Eagle St. in Naperville instead of at the DuPage County court house in Wheaton.
While people given traffic tickets in Naperville - and the police officers who write such tickets - still will have to travel to Wheaton, Chirico said it will be a perk to offer adjudication of other ordinance violations in house.
"That's still 1,200 or 1,300 cases a year. It's worth it," Chirico said. "It's much more convenient for the residents."