Naperville park board up next in fields issue

A plan to relocate some of Naperville's garden plots to make way for athletic fields scored its first victory Monday.

The Naperville Unit District 203 school board voted 7-0 in favor of two versions of the proposal that have had gardeners up in arms for months.

"We hear in these kinds of issues a mentality of scarcity, that because one person gets something, something gets taken away," board President Suzyn Price said. "I think some of these options don't take things away entirely; they effect change and change can be certainly disruptive but ... everybody gets something here, I think."

The park board could take up the issue Thursday, Jan. 8.

Naperville Central High School's shortage of athletic fields prompted school and park officials to draw up several possible solutions that have gone through extensive public input this fall.

The most widely discussed has been Option 1, which would create two full-size fields and one smaller one on the north side of the existing West Street garden plots site. The plan would result in 364 plots remaining on that property, although some would be moved internally. Another 332 plots would be created on the south side of the city at either DuPage River Park or Southwest Community Park.

Agreeing with Superintendent Alan Leis, the board decided to recommend this option as its first choice because of the fields' proximity to Central. It also deemed Option 1A an acceptable alternative.

Option 1A was devised in recent weeks as a compromise in response to a survey that found that 71 percent of gardeners would garden only at West Street. It would create two athletic fields on the southern portion of the garden plots site while allowing 478 out of 590 plots to remain at the West Street site, again relocating some within the property. Roughly 332 would be created at one of the south-side parks.

Both Options 1 and 1A would cost about $500,000 for the school district to develop fields and $250,000 for the park district to create new garden plots.

However, gardeners have been speaking out about their concerns of soil quality, safety and transportation time if their plots are moved. Monday, several gardeners called on the board to consider Option 2, which would move Central athletes to a field at Knoch Park used by youth football.

"Option 2 holds the promise of satisfying the requirements of all people," resident Doug Dallmer said. "The gardeners stay put, Naperville Central High School athletes practice at Knoch Park. We believe there are parks in town that are underutilized."

However, school board member Mike Jaensch said parks are crowded and "there are some trade-offs that have to be made."