Commercial growth for Geneva, or Kane Co. botanical garden?
There are two potential fates for the site of the old Kane County jail and juvenile justice center on the table. Choosing between them will involve keeping at least three parties happy: the city of Geneva, the debt holders on the new Kane County jail and the citizens at large.
The 26-acre site on Fabyan Parkway lies within the jurisdiction of Geneva. As such, the city recently began an initiative to amend zoning on the site to permit commercial growth and identify it as a target area for redevelopment. The idea is to capture the almighty sales and property tax dollars from a site that's long contributed nothing to the city's coffers. To do that, early visions for future use of the site see some sort of high-density residential mixed with a hotel/resort, sort of like Pheasant Run.
On Tuesday, the Kane County Development Committee was set to pass a resolution endorsing that vision for the site.
Not so fast.
County Board Member Phil Lewis, from St. Charles, put the brakes on the vote by introducing a vision inspired by the greatness of Chicago's Grant Park. Lewis, who's district encompasses part of Geneva, said he sees value in preserving a large portion of the site for public use. He envisions something more in the mold of a Morton Arboretum or Ravinia, while also incorporating the potential for some sort of hotel/resort. To put that idea on paper, he's enlisted the help of architectural staff and students at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where Lewis teaches, to draft potential plans with those themes in mind. The rest of the committee gave him a month, possibly longer, to bring those ideas back for discussion.
The question will be whether any of those ideas bear enough money to satisfy the new tax needs of Geneva and the outstanding debt of Kane County. The new Kane County jail was built with the idea that proceeds from the sale of the Fabyan Parkway site would help pay for it.
Those issues put Lewis at odds with some members of the committee Tuesday who were ready to endorse moving forward with Geneva's initiatives.
"I'm not putting forth a proposal to not do this," Lewis said of the endorsement. "I'm putting forth a proposal to delay this. That is the crux of the argument. Do we think that we'll be selling this for commercial development."
Development Committee Chairwoman Cathy Hurlbut, of Elgin, said the county decided a long time ago that the site would be sold for commercial development. Lewis disagreed that the county board, as a whole, had ever taken a vote in favor of that. The committee will investigate that during the next 30 days as well.