Batavia recreation center won't be on ballot
The Batavia park board is holding off on certifying a referendum question about borrowing $20 million to build a recreation center, until it finds out if the project's private developer is still interested now that residents have started objecting. "We haven't even had a chance to review with the other interested parties on whether to continue on," board President Pro Tem John Tilmon said at the board's meeting Tuesday, as it formally acknowledged receipt of petitions calling for a referendum.
Preferred Development Inc. of Chicago has proposed building a 70,000-square-foot recreation center as part of a complex that would include stores and a parking garage, near the northwest corner of Wilson Street and Island Avenue. PDI would knock down a strip mall, and swap some land with the current McDonald's restaurant in that block. The park district would own and operate the recreation center.
In April, the board decided to borrow up to $20 million for the center, and to pay off that debt with the district's existing debt levy authority, with the new debt replacing old debt.
Under state law, governments are allowed to borrow, without asking voters' permission, an amount equal to what they levied for bond and interest payments the year the property tax cap was enacted, now adjusted for inflation. The district levies about $600,000 a year for that, at a rate of 5.4 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation. It would use that money to pay off the rec center loan. But the type of debt it would have issued, alternate-revenue bonds, give voters the ability to force a referendum (sometimes called a "backdoor" referendum) on the issue.
A resident, upset that the district wasn't asking voters for permission to borrow the money or whether they wanted a recreation center, organized a signature-collecting drive to force the district to obtain voters' approval. She turned in 2,368 signatures; 1,466 are needed to get on the ballot.
The plan was unveiled in January. PDI has not applied for a building permit from the city.
In 2008, district voters rejected a plan to build a rec center as part of redoing Harold Hall Quarry Beach and Beach Park. Some did not like the design, some did not like changing Quarry Beach, and some did not want their taxes raised.
The board has until Aug. 16 to certify the question and deliver it to the Kane County clerk for the Nov. 2 ballot. Tilmon said the board hasn't even checked the validity of the petitions. Tilmon and Commissioner Gary Foiles said it may be a moot issue, if the developer decides to abandon the project.
Representatives of PDI were not available for comment.
Park board President Patrick Callahan and Vice President Chris Behmer were absent.
Several residents reiterated their dislike of the idea, suggesting that people who want a recreation center with an indoor pool purchase memberships at private or public facilities in neighboring towns, or volunteer to pay for one themselves.
"Those who use it, you pay for it," said Susan Duffy, toward the end of a 12-minute speech to the board.