Dozens up in arms over Oakbrook Terrace project

The signs along Ardmore Avenue pleading people to attend a public hearing made it clear that many residents living just north of a proposed road extension project in Oakbrook Terrace were very interested in how it will affect their community.

Dozens of residents from the Brandywine subdivision came in force Wednesday afternoon to voice their displeasure with a plan by the tiny suburb of 2,400 people to extend Ardmore Avenue from 16th Street to Butterfield Road. Ardmore currently dead-ends at 16th Street near a largely vacant parcel of land.

All but $500,000 of the $1.7 million project will be paid for by grant money secured by the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference, a coalition of county elected officials and municipal employees.

Mayor Thomas Mazaika had said the road extension was needed to improve traffic in and around Oakbrook Terrace.

But residents such as Dorothy Dewane fear the road project will bring unwanted traffic through her neighborhood and threaten the safety of children living in the area.

"It's a horrible idea," Dewane said, echoing the views of several residents in attendance. "I hope they don't destroy what's already a perfect neighborhood."

Members of the city's contracted engineering firm were available Wednesday to answer questions about the proposed road extension. But no Oakbrook Terrace city officials attended the public hearing at the park district's Heritage Center.

"They don't want to face the wrath of the people of Brandywine," said Dave Spero, a 32-year resident of the neighborhood who has helped organize opposition to the extension. "Nobody from the City of Oakbrook Terrace is here."

Spero said residents plan on submitting a petition of 600 signatures in hopes that city officials will reconsider the project.

But it's not clear how effective that effort will be. The neighborhood is located in an unincorporated area outside of the municipal boundary of Oakbrook Terrace, and Mazaika had said that city officials plan on going through with the road extension project despite the opposition.