Compromise emerges in Naperville garden plot dispute

The community garden plots along West Street near downtown Naperville may be able to accommodate both athletic fields and most of the gardeners who toil there after all.

Park and school officials have released a new option for addressing Naperville Central High School's athletic field shortage that they hope will also please gardeners who have been vocal about not wanting to move their plots to the south side of the city.

The new proposal, called Option 1A, is based on feedback from community meetings and surveys.

It calls for building athletic fields in the southern portion of the garden site, which would allow 478 out of 590 plots - 81 percent - to remain at West Street.

Roughly 115 of the 216 plots in the southern portion would be relocated to the north side of the site. The park district would then create about 332 new plots on the south side of the city at either DuPage River Park or Southwest Community Park.

Roughly 37 percent of gardeners who are Naperville residents live south of 75th Street.

"At this time that's probably going to be the best option to take care of the entire community and certainly expand the program," park district Executive Director Ray McGury said. "People who have not generally wanted to get involved (in the gardening program) now will because it's closer to their homes."

The original Option 1 would create athletic fields on the north side of the West Street site and result in 364 plots remaining on that property and 332 being created on the south side of the city.

However, a survey of gardeners found about 71 percent of respondents would no longer participate if their plot was moved to DuPage River Park or Southwest Community Park. Roughly 89 percent would continue to participate in the program if their plot was relocated within the West Street site.

Based on those results, park officials figured 304 plots would need to remain at West Street to allow each of the gardeners opposed to moving to the south side of the city to have one plot downtown.

The 478 plots at West Street in Option 1A would help accommodate the roughly 36 percent of those surveyed who maintain more than one plot.

For Naperville Unit District 203, that would provide room for two athletic fields instead of two full-sized and one smaller field. The cost - about $500,000 for the school district and $250,000 for the park district - would remain about the same.

"We've been working with the park district ... trying to find an option that would accommodate people who wanted to stay and still meet the needs of our kids," Superintendent Alan Leis said. "This looks like a very viable option."

Doug Dallmer, one of the residents who has represented the gardeners in meetings with the park district, said there still will be objections from some gardeners whose plots will be affected, but he called the proposal "a step in the right direction."

"It demonstrates the park district and the school district heard the residents and said maybe we can make some changes," he said.

But Options 1 and 1A are not the only proposals on the table. Additional options would move athletic teams to a third field at Knoch Park used by youth football leagues; move Central teams to another District 203, park district or leased site; or create athletic fields at DuPage River Park or Nike Park.

Leis will announce his recommendation next week, which will be followed by a school board vote on Dec. 15.

The park district will then get its chance to officially weigh in. If garden plots are moved, the city council also will have to approve.