Sides face off on Central's choice: Fields or garden plots?

Naperville Central athletes have an unusual competitor this winter - area gardeners.

Neither is out for glory. They're out for land.

The high school is facing a shortage of athletic fields and is eyeing nearby property currently used for public garden plots as a possible solution.

Central was built on 35 acres, small in comparison to newer facilities being built on 60 to 100 acres. While it has been able to get by, it soon will lose some field space to Naperville Cemetery while still juggling an increasing number of state-sanctioned sports such as lacrosse.

Officials say the synthetic turf being installed on the football field next year won't be enough to solve the problem.

The school and park districts have come up with four options for adding fields, including one that would relocate some of the downtown garden plots from West Street to the south side of town at either DuPage River Park or Southwest Community Park.

The plan would result in a net increase of about 100 garden plots at a cost to the districts of about $750,000.

It's a plan favored by many parents of Central athletes but it has drawn the ire of numerous gardeners.

The Daily Herald asked a representative of each group to give their take on the issue.

What's next: District 203 expected to make recommendation on Monday, Dec. 15.

The gardener: Albert Cain

Naperville's Community Garden Plot program was founded in the 1970s as a multigenerational activity for Naperville residents. It is based upon the agricultural history of the city, and it provides recreation, exercise, education for the children, and lots of fresh vegetables for the people and charities of Naperville.

The heart of the program is the site. This site was a commercial farm before becoming gardens. It is the fine Illinois topsoil, two to three feet deep, fertile, flat and well-drained. This soil can grow anything in our climate range.

Naperville Unit District 203 is eyeing the garden plots as a site for expansion of its athletic fields. Its specific goal is to destroy two-thirds of the plots and to install three sports fields for existing and newly acquired sports.

The use would be extracurricular only. Fields at the garden site would be used only after school, limiting the number of people utilizing them.

This site is unique in Naperville. There is no other central site, and perhaps no other available site located anywhere in Naperville with such great soil quality. The central location permits easy use of the plots by seniors, who tend to live in the central part of Naperville, and who number more than one-third of all gardeners. We estimate that in 587 garden plots there are 1,000 total gardeners, of whom 400 are seniors.

The primary alternate site being proposed for the garden plots, DuPage River Park, has questionable soil and a history of toxic pollution. It is adjacent to a flood plain. It is so far away that many seniors in the garden plot program will not be able to travel to it.

The intended use of the present garden plots would be for after-school sports.

While the gardens are used from dawn to dusk for six months of the year by many hundreds of people, they would be used only for two hours a day only during lacrosse and soccer season.

There are many acres of athletic fields within proximity to Naperville Central High School. Considering the special requirement for gardening that the West Street site alone satisfies, and the simple requirement for athletic field space, as well as the many fields available within a short distance, we feel that it would be a major mistake for Naperville to abandon the gardening program for extracurricular sports fields.

The school district proposal for replacing most of the gardens with athletic fields would cost $750,000. There are other options, but we believe that what the school district calls "Option 4" is the best one.

It would create new sports fields in DuPage River Park for current and future sports programs. It is far less expensive to implement, and it is a long-term solution by the school district's own assessment.

The garden plots must be maintained on West Street for the benefit of all people in Naperville, not destroyed to provide utility to a very narrow age group of athletes in one high school.

The booster: Peter Shamburek

Naperville Central is a large high school on a relatively small piece of land. It serves students and the community by sharing its land and resources with the park district and community.

Within the next year Central will lose use of some land when the lease with Naperville Cemetery expires. Students and athletes using this land will be displaced.

I support creating new athletic fields near Central at the north end of the garden plots. This would avoid the negative impact and loss of after-school time due to busing athletes an estimated 30 to 90 minutes a day.

Time lost by busing cannot be accurately calculated by MapQuest or rides from point A to point B. The most recent school estimate of lost student time due to coordinating transportation of a team from Central to and from DuPage River Park is 60-plus minutes a day.

This plan would avoid the additional cost of equipment and annual school district costs of about $7,200 for additional trainer time and $24,000 a year for transportation expenses.

This plan anticipates the emerging field needs of lacrosse. It would help ensure the safety of athletes in proximity to school resources.

Creating new athletic fields near Central in this location also would avoid the negative impact of attempting to squeeze additional athletes onto Knoch Park, thereby negatively impacting or displacing thousands of youth sports participants and other users.

It also would avoid additional annual maintenance costs estimated to be $28,000 due to increased field use in Knoch Park. In addition, it could provide open space and an additional community area with a walking trail.

A strong student athlete supports a strong school, which in turn supports a strong community.

One glimpse of this strength and vibrancy can be seen each fall at Memorial Stadium during football games. Thousands of people of all ages and experiences come together as a community: athletes, band members, students, parents and grandparents, children and alumni, volunteers and community stakeholders.

The strength of this community requires vigilant support, day-to-day, month-to-month and year-to-year. Scattering high school athletic fields around Naperville will not maintain this strength and is not the answer. Displacing and disrupting the youth sports programs that support the high school programs will not maintain this strength and is also not the answer.

The answer is to create new athletic fields near Naperville Central.

Under one proposal, in addition to the 220 garden plots that would remain on the current West Street site, 144 of the 370 plots to be moved could remain at the West Street location through developing a portion of the area west of the existing southern plots.

This plan, combined with the development of additional plots on farmland in south Naperville, would expand the program by 100 plots and allow most of our community gardeners to continue on West Street.

This plan also would allow other users to establish another garden community to enjoy on our south side.

The challenge of developing soil to properly support new garden plots at West Street and in south Naperville is a consideration and should be effectively addressed. But it does not need to override the challenges and responsibilities we have to work together to develop and maintain the strength and vitality of our youth programs and high school athletes.

This plan balances all interests and is in the best interest of the entire Naperville community.