Naperville gardeners may only get one plot in the spring

The Naperville Park District board gave the green light Thursday for starting construction of athletic fields on the West Street garden plot site.

Commissioners plan to hold off on creating replacement plots on the city's south side, so some gardeners in Naperville will only get one garden plot to tend next spring.

Originally, the park district was going to construct new plots both at DuPage River Park off Royce Road and on the north side of the current West Street site to make up for those they would be losing.

Then Naperville Unit District 203 could build two athletic fields on part of the West Street site across from Naperville Central High School.

While park district commissioners approved the plan last winter they now say due to increased costs and concerns from residents near DuPage River Park, they would like to go back to the drawing board for those south side plots.

Not wanting to keep District 203 waiting to build athletic fields, they voted 6-1 Thursday to allow the fields to move forward immediately.

"The board made a decision based on the best available information they had available to them over a year ago," President Mike Reilly said. "Now as more information has been developed and more cost information ... the numbers have changed significantly."

Reilly, Vice President Gerry Heide and commissioners Andrew Schaffner, Marie Todd, Kirsten Young and Suzanne Hart voted in favor while Ron Ory voted no.

Young said the school district urgently needs the fields and should be allowed to build them while the district discusses how best to expand the garden plot program.

Hart said the projects should never have been connected the way they were and that while the district was trying to make everyone happy it just isn't working. She said the district should look for less expensive places for the plots.

But Ory would like to see all 332 plots constructed at DuPage River Park as originally planned before that number got cut in half last month. He argued the district is going back on its promises.

"That to me really goes to the heart of our credibility," Ory said. "We are taking a huge giant step back by decoupling, by lack of commitment, by saying one thing and doing another. That to me is poor governance, poor policy."

Gardeners in the audience agreed with Ory. Thursday was a special meeting so there was no opportunity for public comment. However, they made their opinions known through signs like "Commitments should mean something" and "Royce plots now."

Commissioners on Thursday also awarded a $99,582 contract to construct new garden plots on the north side of the West Street site that are expected to be ready in the spring of 2010.

Ory, himself a gardener, again was the lone no vote saying he was unhappy with the quality of the improvements.

The two votes Thursday mean 476 garden plots will be available next spring - about 118 fewer than exist now.

Brad Wilson, director of recreation, said there are 385 residents and 53 nonresidents with plots so there is enough for everyone to get one.

After the first round of registration for a plot, there will be an opportunity to get a second one if there are some left.

The park district will work with gardeners on a plan for additional plots on the south side of the city.

In the meantime, District 203 hopes to start construction of athletic fields in spring and they should be done by midsummer. However, to let the sod or seed grow properly, they may not be usable until fall of 2011.