Naperville park board gives OK to move garden plots

The Naperville park board voted 4-3 Thursday to relocate some garden plots to the south side of the city to make room for athletic fields near Naperville Central High School.

Both the Naperville Unit District 203 school board and the park board have now approved the compromise plan that would move the plots to DuPage River Park, and now it goes to the city council for a vote.

Commissioner Kristen Jungles said the park and school districts have a long history of partnering to share limited space and resources.

"These are the kinds of partnerships which have really benefited this community in the past and will hopefully benefit us moving forward," Jungles said.

Yet gardeners continued to campaign against the plan.

"Naperville is one of the best park district gardening programs in all of the Chicagoland area which continues to grow and add to the uniqueness of Naperville and its farming heritage," resident John Polich said. "When the Martin Mitchell family donated the land it was intended to be used for all the residents of Naperville, not strictly lacrosse or soccer players."

For months, the two districts have been studying the problem and asking the community for input on several options they jointly proposed. The issue has sparked intense debate from gardeners and school parents alike and there has been no shortage of input from both.

Twenty-one residents spoke about the issue at Thursday's park board meeting. The board ultimately decided to approve a plan known as Option 1A, which the district has called a compromise plan.

The issue stems from Naperville Central High School's shortage of athletic fields caused by a small campus, a growing number of sports and the loss of Naperville Cemetery land the cemetery had let the school use but that it now needs.

Option 1A would create two athletic fields on the southern portion of the garden plots while allowing 478 out of 590 plots to remain at the West Street site, though some would be relocated internally. Roughly 332 plots would be created at DuPage River Park on the south side of the city.

The plan allows each household with a garden plot to still have at least one at the West Street site if they so choose.

Creating athletic fields is projected to cost District 203 about $500,000, which it has set aside from money taxpayers approved in a referendum last year for facilities upgrades. The park district expects to spend about $250,000 to develop new garden plots.

President Suzanne Hart, Vice President Marie Todd, Jungles and Gerry Heide voted in favor of the plan. Andrew Schaffner, Ron Ory and Mary Wright voted against it.

They said there are still unanswered questions and they want more details laid out so the park district does not incur additional financial liability.

"I think there are a lot of unknowns at this point and I'm more than willing to go be a good neighbor and help someone out, but I don't want to be taken advantage of," Wright said.

Schaffner tried unsuccessfully to present an amended proposal that would still include approval of Option 1A but laid out specifics such as how much the park district would pay and stipulated it would retain control over programming the athletic fields.

Although Option 1A has been billed as a compromise, Naperville gardeners have continuously voiced concerns about soil quality, transportation time and safety if plots move to DuPage River Park.

District 203 has already given its OK to Option 1A although it had preferred a similar version of the plan that would have given it two full-sized fields plus a smaller field. Central parents have said they favor creating athletic fields on the garden plot land so that their children would not have to be bused to other locations.

Option 1A now goes to the city council and if approved, the school and park districts will meet again to hammer out an intergovernmental agreement with more details.

Garden: Plan for new plots could cost $250,000