Naperville parks near deal on Hobson land
The ponds of Hobson West are close to becoming the Park at Hobson West.
Naperville's park district commissioners said they are trying to buy the land with the help of the Naperville-based Conservation Foundation's "Buy-and-Hold" program. The deal would allow the district to buy a 6-acre farm tract from a townhouse developer between the two ponds to make a 15-acre park.
The Conservation Foundation would buy the land and the park district would have two years to pay them back, but meanwhile the park district would be able to use the land for programming.
The farm parcel is estimated to cost about $3.3 million. The district already owns the 9 acres that make up the land where the two ponds are located.
While details of the purchase have yet to be worked out, neighbors who have been fighting for the land to remain open for nearly three years were pleased by the announcement that district officials were planning to buy it.
That's a far cry from the district's stance a little more than a year ago when the city council was debating whether to rezone the parcel to make way for the townhouse development. District officials back then adamantly opposed buying such a small parcel.
A vocal band of residents living around the property have spent years pushing for the farm parcel to remain open space. They believed they were close to victory with Thursday's announcement at the park board's meeting.
"I'm going with the assumption that nothing is going to derail the process," said Doug Dallmer, who lives near the property. "What they said tonight was a hell of lot more positive than when we walked in."
Dallmer doesn't believe the board would have announced its desire to buy the property without a deal being close.
"I can't imagine them making a statement without the sides being on the same page," he said.
The property is wedged between Plainfield-Naperville Road and West Street to the west of the Edward Hospital campus. The district has until Dec. 31 to solidify the deal with the foundation and the developer that owns the land. The price was supposedly locked in for a year and the council forbade the developer from building on the property for a year when they voted to rezone it last December.
Board President Kristen Jungles said there are plenty of opportunities in November and December for the board to decide the fate of the land.
Other residents said the district shouldn't stop with just this parcel but should start thinking about preserving other small open spaces throughout town, too.
"Recently, the forest preserve asked us to pass a referendum for open space and it passed," said resident Rod Randall. "I think that's something you should do."