Hobson West park effort comes to end

After several years of debate, the Naperville Park District has decided not to purchase land between the ponds in the Hobson West neighborhood.

The park board and developer Crestview Builders were not able to reach agreement on the terms of a contract to buy the land and will not negotiate any further, President Kristen Jungles announced at a board meeting Thursday.

Jungles spoke on behalf of the board, which discussed the matter only behind closed doors.

"As good stewards of our residents' tax dollars, we recognize that their offer would not be in the best interest for the park district and its constituents," Jungles said. "However, we understand the importance of preserving open space and the desire for the community to have additional land designated for recreational use. Rest assured that we will use these funds to continue to seek property to acquire for this purpose."

The 6 acres of land in question lies between two ponds in the Hobson West neighborhood between Plainfield-Naperville Road and West Street.

The park district already owns the 9-acre ponds, but a group of residents has been urging it for several years to purchase the additional land to create a 15-acre park. Otherwise, Crestview Builders plans to build townhouses on it.

As of January, the park district was offering $2.5 million for the property, but Crestview wanted $4.1 million. Last month, Crestview made a new proposal and the board asked for a contract by Tuesday.

The board was in closed session for just over an hour Thursday night, in part to discuss the land acquisition. When they emerged, Jungles announced there would be no deal.

The two sides had previously agreed to structure the purchase as a "partial sale and donation," she said, but couldn't reach agreement on specific terms of the contract.

Jungles said 3.69 acres of the site couldn't be conveyed to the park district for another two years and the partial sale and donation structure was "deemed to be legally unenforceable."

"I wish all parties could have (come) to an agreement," Commissioner Suzanne Hart, who has advocated for purchasing the land, said after the meeting.

The commissioners had no public debate about the issue Thursday, nor did they take a public vote, angering some residents in the audience.

"They've never had any public discussion on this matter and the public is owed that regardless of the outcome," resident Rod Randall said.

But Steve Adams, an attorney for the park district, said a public vote wasn't legally required.

"We didn't take any action to acquire property," Adams said. "We didn't take any formal action other than to discontinue a discussion they were having."

Doug Dallmer and the Save Open Space group have been fighting to keep the land between the ponds a park.

"We're incredibly disappointed," Dallmer said. "While we had not been given any specific reason to think it would be approved today, we're very disappointed."

The Save Open Space group still plans to try to get a referendum on the November ballot to purchase other parcels of open land in Naperville.

But Dallmer said he is still waiting to hear back from the park district and area conservation officials as to whether they would help with such an effort.