Veterans home hits a snag

If the historic McKee house in the Churchill Woods Forest Preserve is ever converted into housing for veterans, it won't have a Lombard address.

The DuPage County Housing Authority recently learned the Depression-era house and related structures at the site are technically within Lombard's municipal boundaries.

That could create an obstacle for a plan to convert the building into a home for retired veterans, DuPage County Forest Preserve District officials said Tuesday.

Lombard's building code requires municipal water be available at the site if the proposed veterans home were built. It also would need a fire suppression system, officials said

To do that, the village must run a water main extension to the property all the way from the east side of I-355. That would cost too much to make the project feasible, forest preserve officials said.

Forest preserve commissioners learned a plan is in the works to circumvent that problem by de-annexing the site from Lombard. The county then would allow the property to be served by a well and a fire suppression system fueled by a water reservoir.

If the veterans housing project fell through, the de-annexed land automatically would revert back into Lombard's boundaries.

Meandering length & cost

A $2.2 million project to re-meander parts of Spring Brook is once again a $3.6 million project.

Forest preserve commissioners tentatively approved the use of up to $829,000 of bond funds to add just under a mile of additional meandering to the project. Grants will fund the rest of the additional $1.4 million cost.

Up to this point, the project only covered 1.1 miles of Spring Brook, which is located in Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve in Naperville.

The district had always intended the project to encompass two miles, but lacked the funding to make it happen.

The district has secured additional grant money since work on the project began. It also received recognition from both the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for the effort.

Commissioner Roger Kotecki questioned whether the additional funds not covered by grants might be better used to restore other parts of the forest preserve.

Staff responded that the re-meandering is the top priority restoration project in the district.