Alley work sets tone for Wheaton's 'green' efforts

The struggle to adopt "green" policies in Wheaton is turning into an old-fashioned alley fight.

For two years, the city council has discussed re-doing alleys in the downtown to remove cracks and holes and make them more visually appealing. The city delayed the work last year after finding it more complicated than expected. This year, the city has found the work to be more expensive than expected.

Infrastructure and pursuing environmentally friendly policies are two of the top priorities the council set for itself this year. But green strategies are typically more costly on the front end to implement. The city is operating this year with a $3 million budget deficit.

That sets up a vote on a seemingly small issue that may show if the council still believes it can make going green a priority during a budget deficit.

The early opinions on the council show it's divided evenly with Councilman John Prendiville yet to weigh in, but indicating he supports the "green" option.

The environmentally friendly option is to use permeable pavers that assist water drainage. That would cost $148,000 and allow the city to redo just one alley. That's about $27,000 under budget, but the plan would only accomplish half the work that was planned. Mayor Mike Gresk, Councilwoman Liz Corry and Councilman Dave Johnson all favor that option.

Councilmen Howard Levine, Phil Suess and Tom Mouhelis want to redo two downtown alleys with a quick-drying concrete at a cost of about $189,000. That's about $14,000 more than the city budgeted for the project, but it would accomplish the goal of redoing two alleys.

"I think that we would all like to use pavers everywhere we could," Levine said. "But it's just another expense. And it's still just an alley."

On Tuesday, Prendiville said his tie-breaking vote will be in favor of pushing green policies in the city and going with the permeable pavers.

"Generally, I'm always going to vote for the environmentally friendly methods," Prendiville said.

He said, even during a budget crunch, the city should move toward more green policies. Prendiville already has pushed city staff to present some ways to include incentives in the city building code to encourage green construction in the city.