2027 Naperville budget calls for downtown parking deck, riverwalk, streetscape spending
Design work for a downtown parking deck and more riverwalk and downtown streetscape improvements are among the projects included in Naperville’s proposed 2027 budget.
The preliminary budget for next year’s capital improvement plan was presented to the Naperville City Council on Monday and calls for $210.7 million in spending, a 10.6% increase over this year’s budgeted amount.
Water and electric utility projects make up 60% of the request, with about $99 million earmarked for water infrastructure work and about $30 million for electric projects. Among them is the ongoing work at the Springbrook water treatment plant, water main replacement and ongoing burial of electric cables.
“Outside of the utilities, this increase is related to the North Aurora Road project, the Riverwalk south extension/Hillside Gateway project and the municipal center deck,” Naperville Deputy Finance Director Traci Marrocco said.
At Monday’s budget workshop, much of the discussion centered on the proposed parking deck at the Nichols Library and the south extension and Hillside Gateway projects for the Riverwalk.
A comprehensive redesign of a long-discussed parking deck, which has been on and off the table for Nichols Library for nearly two decades, will be needed because the original design is out of date and does not meet current building codes. If it proceeds as originally planned, the multilevel structure would increase library parking capacity from 130 to 500 spaces.
“There’s been questions about, ‘Are we still committed to that design? Can we go taller? … Do we change the aesthetics on the outside?’” said Jennifer Louden, director of Naperville’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department.
City staff earmarked $100,000 for the design phase in 2027, with plans for the process to continue into 2028 and engineering be done in 2029 and 2030. If the council green-lights the project, construction would be done in 2031 and 2032 and cost about $37.7 million total.
Because of the multiyear timetable involved, staff is recommending the council move forward with making infrastructure improvements to the Municipal Center Parking Deck on South Eagle Street and the downtown streetscape projects.
Rehabilitation of the municipal deck is planned for 2027 and 2028 and expected to cost $9 million. Streetscape work on Jefferson Avenue from Main to Washington streets and on Main Street from Jefferson to Van Buren avenues is also planned for the same time and budgeted to be about $4 million. Streetscape work along Jackson and Chicago avenues would then follow.
“We thought this would be a better opportunity to balance the impact of work on downtown businesses, residents and visitors,” said Naperville City Manager Doug Krieger, adding that it would “provide additional time to evaluate the long-term strategy and design of the Nichols parking facility.”
There has been a renewed push by multiple groups to see the Nichols Library parking deck move forward. The Naperville Public Library Board, Downtown Naperville Alliance, Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Naperville Development Partnership all back the project.
“If we continue to delay this project, it will only cost the community more in impact to lost sales tax revenue and higher construction costs,” said Monica Conners, president of the Naperville Development Partnership.
But the council has not yet committed to the project.
Councilman Patrick Kelly said he wants more data on the state of the downtown’s parking supply before approving the design phase. City staff members are expected to have that data ready in October or November.
“If a majority of the council wants to do it, I hope that you do it in a way that’s as visually pleasing as it can be done,” Kelly said. “I would not support, ‘Let’s scale it back or make it taller.’”
Councilman Josh McBroom said he would like to see a staff recommendation on the proposed Nichols parking facility before moving forward, noting that the deck might be catering more to nonresident shoppers than to Naperville residents.
“My thought is that the engineering plans, which are a million and a half bucks, that we don’t just throw that in the (capital improvement plan) unless we’re really serious about doing that,” McBroom said. “We should probably treat $100,000 like that as well.”
As for the riverwalk, plans for the south trail extension and Hillside Gateway projects are budgeted for $6.8 million, with about $1.5 million in outside funding secured.
The former would extend the riverwalk from Hillside Road to Martin Avenue, and the latter would add a new plaza to the northwest corner of the river and Hillside Road.
Costs for these improvements are a million dollars more than what the city included in the 2026 budget. So the project scope may need to be scaled back, Krieger said. Naperville City Engineer Andy Hynes said he expects to have a clearer idea of what a more scaled-back version would look like at the next Riverwalk Commission meeting.
The next budget workshop meetings are scheduled for Oct. 27 and Nov. 10. Council members are expected to sign off on the final version of the budget in December.
cstein@chicagotribune.com