Navistar calls off move to ex-Alcatel-Lucent building in Lisle

Navistar officials said Wednesday the company is no longer interested in moving its international headquarters to Lisle.

The announcement took many by surprise, and prompted a flurry of activity, including an attempt by Gov. Pat Quinn to step in. Business leaders and county policymakers were quick to condemn a vocal few for thwarting the plan.

Stung by what they called unfair criticism that was sullying the engine-building giant's reputation, Navistar will begin looking for other sites, possibly but not necessarily in Illinois, said Don Sharp, Navistar's vice president of communications.

"We certainly never signed up for our company to be put on trial by a small group of people opposing economic development," Sharp said. "In our view, we are being put on trial for things simply beyond zoning issues."

The village was planning to issue subpoenas on behalf of those opposing the proposal, ordering a number of company and county leaders to appear at upcoming planning and zoning commission hearings. Navistar officials have questioned the village's subpoena powers and the length of the public hearing process.

Mark Daniel, an attorney for a group opposing Navistar's proposed move, said he didn't believe his clients were solely responsible for the company's decision.

"This was too good of a deal for a company like Navistar to walk away from," Daniel said. "It's got to be something other than the residents causing this."

Officials from the engine and truck manufacturing giant informed village leaders they were pulling the company's proposal to move to the former Alcatel-Lucent building at 2600 Warrenville Road.

"There is a small group that doesn't want us in Lisle for whatever reason and misrepresenting Navistar and many of our supporters," Navistar Chairman Dan Ustian wrote to Lisle Mayor Joe Broda. "As this is jeopardizing our image and that of many innocent people who have advocated for us, we will no longer be participating. At this point we feel it's best if we step back and revisit the other locations we previously explored."

Daniel said he was "cautiously hesitant" to declare the deal dead since this is the second time Navistar has pulled its proposal off the table.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn reached out to Ustian on Wednesday to discuss the deal. Quinn spokeswoman Ashley Cross said the governor wanted to "reiterate the importance of jobs and investment Navistar wants to bring and keep in Illinois." Cross said Quinn offered to assist in the continuation of talks between Lisle and Navistar "to bring this to a resolution and make it a reality."

Navistar was looking to move from its current Warrenville location. In addition to land-use variances, the company was seeking a special taxing district from Lisle that would have helped pay for infrastructure improvements. Lisle and the county also agreed to purchase a 3-acre road around the property's north side for $1.5 million from the forest preserve and donate it to Navistar in order to sweeten the pot for the company. The state legislature also approved a tax break package to ease the company's move earlier this month.

County leaders blasted residents who opposed the move.

"It is a sad day for DuPage County and its citizens that misinformation and paranoia have won the day and ended Navistar's proposed move to the vacant Lucent Technologies building in Lisle," said county board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom.

Grant Eckhoff, a county board member and chairman of the board's economic development committee, called the company's move a "horribly unfortunate situation."

"A handful of residents cost DuPage County millions of dollars," he said.

Neighbors initially fought the proposal because of environmental concerns, but Navistar submitted a revised plan in March. Then opponents began attacking the company's claims that the new headquarters will bring hundreds of new jobs to the area and the tax breaks Navistar could receive. They have also continued their assault on the company's plans to build an engine research and testing facility at the site.

Lisle officials said they have spent more than $200,000 on research and consultation fees on this proposal, but they expect to be reimbursed by Navistar. Forest Preserve President Dewey Pierotti said his agency recently approved a $10,000 payout to a consultant who looked over Navistar's environmental impact study and found nothing that should have halted the road deal.

In the end, it may be the ghost of public hearings past that doomed the Navistar proposal for Lisle. Many involved said the village's broad interpretation of new laws regarding how public hearings are conducted bogged down the process. Village Manager Jerry Sprecher said the planning and zoning commission had never issued subpoenas before the Navistar hearings. Even Daniel said it was a rare occurrence.

This gun-shy approach to handling public hearings is a direct result of a court ruling on a similar fight in Lisle in the late 1990s between residents and developers of a Meijer store. The court ruled that Lisle did not allow its residents to cross-examine witnesses called by the developer. Current Lisle Mayor Joe Broda ascended to that post by supporting more residential input in the hearing process. On Wednesday, he said "the monster was created through the Meijer process."

"We've gone to the other extreme, and it's just getting carried away now," Broda said. "When someone is allowed to cross-examine a witness for three to four hours, something is wrong."

The village has logged almost 40 hours worth of hearings on the Navistar proposal since last fall. One hearing held on a Saturday lasted almost eight hours. In addition, a lawsuit was filed last week seeking to restart the hearing process. Company officials said the threat of more lawsuits would have drawn out the process even longer.

"There is no end in sight," Sharp said.

Sharp said the company would re-examine relocating to states where Navistar currently operates, including South Carolina, Alabama and Texas. Officials say they've been courted for years by governors from some of those states. One offer included sale of a building for $1.