Hubble referendum culminates years of debate
Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 voters will decide Feb. 5 if Hubble Middle School should move to Warrenville and be modernized.
The vote is the culmination of more than five years of debate and investigation of the issue. The move is unanimously supported by the school board and a group of citizens known as CommUNITY Forward.
The move is opposed by a separate community group known as Educate 200.
The cost
The price for the new Hubble Middle School is $50 million for the building and $8 million for the land.
There will also be additional unknown costs associated with moving furniture and whatever accommodations must be made to replace the lost athletic space at the current Hubble used by the schools and park district.
There is some discussion about putting down synthetic turf at the field at Monroe Middle School for year-round use. No cost estimate has been given for that yet.
There are also the costs associated with paying the $58 million bond debt over 14 years.
Cost to homeowners
This is where it gets tricky to follow. The district will structure the debt so that its bond and interest tax rate stays the same. However, that means your taxes will increase.
Normally, the tax rate falls on its own over time as the overall assessed valuation of property in the district increases. Voting for the Hubble referendum will prevent that from happening.
The school district estimates the impact to the owner of a $350,000 home is a $3,400 tax increase, total, over the 14 years. That includes the $5,000 homestead residential tax exemption. The estimate also assumes the value of that home increases 4 percent a year for the life of the Hubble debt.
Homes that increase in value more than that will pay more than $3,400 over the 14 years.
Offsetting factors
There are several potential scenarios that may offset the costs to taxpayers.
The school board has promised to sell the current Hubble Middle School site as part of the move. The proceeds would then go to pay down the highest interest bonds the district currently holds, which may not be the Hubble bonds.
The new Hubble would also have more modern insulation, heating, cooling and ventilation systems than the current Hubble. The result should be a savings from the current Hubble, which costs as much to heat and cool as all three of the district's other middle schools combined.
Some of that is attributable to Hubble being much larger than any of the middle schools.
One last potential offset is promised contributions from the city of Warrenville.
At one point the city offered to buy at least part of the land in Warrenville to move the school. A lawsuit by Naperville schools prevented that from happening. Now the city has promised help in other areas, such as infrastructure and water retention space.
Why there?
The new Hubble Middle School would be built on a 19-acre swath of land located on Herrick Road, near Galusha Road, just over the Warrenville border.
The school board spent several years looking for an appropriate site large enough to accommodate a new Hubble in the southwest portion of the district.
It considered several other locations, including the former site of Sunny Ridge Family Center in Wheaton, the Cenacle Retreat Center in Warrenville, and a strip of DuPage County Forest Preserve District land near Wheaton Warrenville South High School.
None of those sites proved feasible either because of land flaws, price or unavailability.
Environmental concerns
Educate 200 raised concerns about the Herrick Road location stemming mostly from its proximity to a BP Amoco research facility less than half a mile away.
The BP facility has had outbreaks of at least two different forms of cancer in employees, but no direct link to any of the activities at the center was ever found.
The research site also has more safety measures and less chemicals on-site than it did in the past when most of the cancer incidents occurred.
Educate 200 even located two of the cancer victims who stated they didn't believe it was safe to build a school near the BP facility.
In response, the school district commissioned environmental studies and a risk analysis to assess any viable threats to students. All tests found the site to be safe, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency gave it a green light for a school.
Beyond that, the school district believes the new school poses fewer environmental hazards than the current Hubble. Asbestos and mold are known problems at the current Hubble, though the school is up to code.
Educate 200 believes the current school is still the better environmental solution because building new would eliminate green space in both Wheaton and Warrenville.
Pass vs. fail
If the Hubble tax increase is approved, the new school will be built while classes continue at the current building. The new school would open fall of 2009.
In the interim, the school district would look to sell the current Hubble site in Wheaton to a developer. The old school would most likely be demolished.
City officials have said a mix of retail, office, residential and open space would be the mix they'd hope to see in a redevelopment of the site.
Much of the land sits in a flood plain and cannot be developed. However, a re-configuration would address flooding in the area and possibly traffic congestion on Naperville Road.
There are no guarantees in that process at this point. The sale price, the detracting value of the existing school, future redevelopment of the land and the impact of changing the site on Wheaton's downtown are all unknown factors.
The future space needs of the school district are also somewhat unknown. The demographic trends show a declining enrollment in the district, but further residential development could change that at any time.
There's also some discussion on a state level of moving toward all-day kindergarten, which would increase the space needs in the district.
Jefferson Preschool is also in need of remodeling and possibly resizing.
The school district also has yet to announce any attendance boundary changes as a result of moving Hubble. School Board President Andy Johnson has said some boundary changes impacting various schools are in order, regardless of where Hubble is located.
Remodeling
If the Hubble Middle School tax increase fails, the school board has already said it will try again in November, and possibly again in 2009, but with a larger price tag.
Educate 200 believes the school board should listen to whatever voters decide on Feb. 5 and move onto a re-modeling of the current Hubble if the tax increase fails.
The current cost estimate to renovate Hubble is $61 million. Educate 200 believes that price is inflated to make a new school seem more appealing. The group wants the district to seek a second estimate. District 200 says its architects have always nailed cost estimates and no second estimate is forthcoming.
Further information about the Hubble tax increase question is available at: www.cusd200.org (school district) and www.hubblefacts.com (Educate 200).
Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200
Request: $58 million and permission to construct a new Hubble Middle School in Warrenville and sell the current Hubble site in Wheaton.
Cost: About $3,400 for the owner of a $350,000 house over 14 years.
If it passes: Students would remain in the current Hubble while the new school is built. It is slated to open in August 2009.
If it loses: The district will ask the tax increase question again in November.
Details: www.cusd200.org and www.hubblefacts.com