Lisle bus yard plan irks neighbors

A bus company's plan to use a large empty parking lot as a school bus yard has won preliminary approval from Lisle, despite complaints from neighbors about noise, traffic and air pollution.

Westway Coach, a subsidiary of Cook-Illinois Corp., is looking for a place to park about 70 buses that will be used to transport students in Downers Grove Elementary District 58, Woodridge Elementary District 68 and Downers Grove High School District 99.

John Benish Jr., Cook-Illinois' COO, told members of the village's planning and zoning commission this week that the 2.5-acre parking lot at the former Tellabs site on the 4900 block of Indiana Avenue was selected because it's not being used.

“It was already lit,” Benish said. “It was in a safe area. It was also accessible to the contract we wanted to be at.”

This week, Lisle's planning and zoning commission voted 4-1 to recommend that the village board grant a special-use permit for the project. The board is expected to vote Aug. 15.

Gary Farrar, the only member of the planning and zoning commission to vote no, declined to comment after Wednesday night's meeting.

But Charles Rego, the advisory panel's chairman, said the proposal “makes sense” for the property, located in an industrial area. Westway Coach wouldn't be allowed to fuel or repair its buses on the property.

“When you take into account what could be there, especially being zoned industrial, we thought this was a much less impact overall,” Rego said. “I'd hate to see eighteen-wheelers backing up to all those bays.”

Rego said he believes there will be an economic benefit to Lisle. If the special-use permit is granted, Westway Coach would lease space inside the building at 4951 Indiana Ave. for a dispatch office.

But several opponents, including neighboring homeowners and building owners, say the buses will make a bad traffic situation worse, cause air and noise pollution and lower property values.

“There's no financial advantage to the village,” neighbor Donna Bakker said. “There's no financial advantage to the residents. There's no advantage at all to the residents.”

Bakker, who lives in a condominium building along nearby Yender Avenue, says the morning rush hour traffic on Ogden and Yackley avenues already is “maddening.” Adding dozens of buses will make things worse, she said.

“I am envisioning a row of yellow school buses and behind that semitrailers and behind that another 70 drivers coming to work,” Bakker said. “It's just an unbearable situation that I'm picturing.”

Neighbor Ron Amato said he's disappointed the planning and zoning commission made a recommendation without first doing more research, including a noise pollution study and an environmental study.

“I don't think that they had enough actual information to make a knowledgeable decision,” Amato said. “That's not how you run a government.”