Forest district will look at other sites for maintenance garage

DuPage County Forest Preserve commissioners are looking at alternate sites for a controversial maintenance garage that was scheduled to start construction next year.

The proposed maintenance garage on the outskirts of the Blackwell Forest Preserve near Warrenville is not dead, but it will certainly be delayed now that commissioners have ordered an examination of other possible locations.

Neighbors of the proposed facility have been vocal about their concerns with the project that would create a $7.5 million 16-bay, 29,000-square-foot garage near McKee Marsh off Mack Road. They lambasted commissioners over the course of several meetings for not demanding staff examine other potential sites.

Forest preserve officials have said the Blackwell site was chosen because the project would essentially be an expansion of operations that currently exist there. The district is looking to consolidate fleet service operations to one spot within the county instead of the two locations that currently exist. The other fleet services building is located at the Churchill Woods Forest Preserve near Lombard.

So far, about $200,000 has been spent on engineering and architectural plans for the building at Blackwell, forest preserve officials said.

Commissioner Roger Kotecki, who opposes the Blackwell site, said some of the architectural work already done can be transferred to alternate sites and won't have to be redone. However, some of the alternate sites suggested already have existing buildings.

There's no timetable for staff to report back to commissioners with a list of alternate sites. Staff is working with the project's consultant to come up with a new proposal for that company to examine alternate sites, said Andrea Hoyt, the district's director of planning. There's also no limit on the number of sites that will be looked at, she said.

Meanwhile, plans to send the Blackwell project out for bid next month have been scuttled for the time being.