Lisle residents learn costs drive many Navistar decisions
Lisle residents took another pound of flesh Wednesday night from their likely new neighbor, Navistar Inc.
The village's planning and zoning commission hosted its second public hearing regarding the truck maker and defense contractor's intent to acquire and overhaul the 89-acre former Lucent campus that fronts Warrenville Road in Lisle.
Unfortunately for at least six residents, the Navistar complex will also back up to their backyards in the upscale Pebble Creek Subdivision, including the installation of a new 162,000-gallon above-ground liquid storage and waste facility and a vehicle preparation station.
For at least a month, residents including Tom Stefely and MaryLynn Zajdel have asked why the new planned facilities abut the residential neighborhood instead of being placed on the northwest corner of the lot. They voiced concerns about the safety of the above ground fuel, oil and coolant storage.
Wednesday they got some answers but not all that they were looking for as Navistar's architects would only speak to the land use portions of their questions.
Design architect Tom Rowland said architects did attempt to place the new development just off Naperville Road on the northwest quadrant of the property, but said the cost of the footprint prohibited it.
Rowland said placing the new facilities in the proposed northeast corner will cost between $100 and $110 million, opposed to between $134.5 and $146.5 million on the northwest corner due to utility placement and the cost to reconfigure existing buildings.
As for the above ground liquid storage, Navistar attorney Russ Whitaker confirmed the contents would be oils, coolants and various formulations of diesel fuel, but said the facility would be fire safe and have to pass a series of inspections by state and local fire officials.
The existing campus includes nine buildings connected by covered walkways and bridges.
The Navistar proposal would demolish the two northeastern-most buildings and that quadrant would be redeveloped with three buildings to serve as engineering and development divisions.
The area would house the company's 335,000-square-foot Advanced Technology Center that will provide design, testing and engineering for product development.
A Design Lab would cover about 20,000 square feet and showcase innovations and products.
A Vehicle Preparation Center would be about 25,000 square feet and include vehicles used in testing functions and fuel storage.
At a later public hearing, residents will hear from more Navistar experts pertaining to the acoustics, emissions and fuel storage issues on the site.
Village officials could approve the plan as early as December, although working out details of a tax increment financing district may take longer in separate meetings.