Opposition mounts to Wheaton's Hoffman Park plan

Wheaton's Hoffman Park isn't named after actor Dustin Hoffman, but when it comes to disturbing the land, neighbors said it's still about rain, man.

Residents near the 9-acre park on Wheaton's fringes came out in force Wednesday night to urge Wheaton park commissioners to a "no" vote.

Developers are hoping to subdivide three residential lots into six and build new homes on the land for a profit. The lots are adjacent to Hoffman Park.

Neighbors near the development don't want to see the new homes. They've attacked the proposal from the onset, fearing the homes will take the place of a wooded section that provides a drainage area for the park. The park already experiences soggy grounds on a seasonal basis.

To answer that concern, developers want to install a storm sewer connection with a new pipe that runs across a portion of Hoffman Park. To do that, they need permission from the Wheaton Park District.

"The question is, do we want to have people…put pipes through our land," park Commissioner Phil Luetkehans said. "For me, it's an easy question. The answer is no."

The rest of the park board agreed. But that doesn't necessarily mean the new homes near Hoffman Park won't get built anyway.

Neighbors opposed to the project will now lobby the Wheaton city council to vote against the development. The neighbors will ask the city to vacate a right-of-way that developers had hoped to use as an access point for the future owners of the new homes.

If the opposing neighbors are successful, that would appear to defeat the development in its current form.