City giving away too much to developer

While it's understandable that the city of Naperville would want help with the redevelopment of the 5th Avenue corridor, I'm shocked at how much control the city is willing to cede.

A developer is presumed to have a valuable skill set in bringing plans to life, and has experience in matters which the city lacks, but they're still a business. And businesses exist to make profits for their owners. That's not a bad thing, particularly if you need a good developer.

The problem comes in how the city of Naperville is setting this up. Right now, they're not looking for something to be built. They have no plan, no scope, and no vision for what should be built. They're looking for the developer to provide that. The city, the champion of the public's best interests, is looking to let a developer control the information gathering, assessment, land use planning and finance plan - for 13 acres of public land.

This potential arrangement has been called letting the fox in the hen house. Because clearly, a developer has a vested interest in promoting as much profit-making development as they can. So to let them, a developer, decide what is in the public's best interests is an outrage.

And to make the deal even sweeter for the developer, the city has so far declined requiring competition to ensure that the public gets the maximum value out of it.

This is an abdication of the city's duty to protect our interests and ensure that the sale of public land proceeds according to our wishes. Over 1,400 residents have objected but have been met with silence.

Dominic Nugent

Naperville