DuPage County board hands over museum to Wheaton Park District

Visitors to the DuPage County Historical Museum may be greeted by Wheaton Park District staff as soon as this September.

DuPage County Board members Tuesday approved an agreement to have the park district move into and operate the museum.

The plan passed without opposition thanks to changes requiring a more intense review of the fundraising efforts geared toward freeing the county from its financial ties to the museum.

Requiring the annual review addressed concerns raised by board member Patrick O'Shea. He wanted some of the money raised to offset the roofing and staffing costs the county is helping pay for.

Mike Benard, executive director of the Wheaton Park District, said he'll remain opposed to siphoning off any of the money raised for the museum into county coffers -- no matter how successful fundraising efforts are.

Other changes to the plan require the park district to pay for major building improvements to the museum beyond a new roof. Benard said no such improvements are planned or likely given the building's status on the National Register of Historic Places.

"The Wheaton Park District is committed to putting the energy and the expertise behind a successful new era for the DuPage County Historical Museum," Benard said.

Park commissioners are expected to approve the agreement next month.

Once that happens, the park district will draft a transition plan that may include shuttering the museum for several weeks while offices are set up.

Wheaton taxpayers then will get a chance to weigh in on what should happen to the park district's current offices at the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Main Street.

There are a few possible scenarios.

The park district could raze the building and leave it as open space.

Another option would be to subdivide the 5.5 acres and sell a single acre with development potential. Or, the entire property could be sold.

Selling the entire site would require voter approval, according to state law. Selling just one acre, valued at about $1 million, would not.

Should any of the site go on the market, it is very likely it would get pooled with a pending redevelopment of the Hubble Middle School property across Main Street.

"One of the major benefits of redeveloping this area, as important or more important than the potential economic stimulus downtown, is the mitigation of the flooding problem," Bernard said. "This Hubble redevelopment is that opportunity."