Fight still on against Fox River Grove garage

A group of Fox River Grove residents has renewed their push to prevent the village from building a public works facility in their neighborhood.

Several plan to picket and make presentations at a future meeting in which the board would vote on a zoning change related to the project.

"We're still trying to stop them," said Glenn Kayler, who lives across the street from the project site and is leading the fight. "One of the main things is that they're not listening to the voters."

Trustees were to vote June 17, but the zoning board deferred making a recommendation Wednesday, saying it needed more information, said Village President Robert Nunamaker.

The village plans to level an existing public works garage to expand its wastewater treatment plant to comply with pending regulations from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

A new garage on County Line Road near Route 22 will replace it.

Although residents in a 2008 nonbinding referendum said they wanted the garage issue brought to a public vote and secured a petition with 295 signatures against the project, the village board voted 4-3 to finance the building another way by using $3.5 million in debt certificates, loans that carry higher interest rates.

The petition sought to prevent the board from issuing bonds, but not from using debt certificates.

Nunamaker said it was all about saving money for Fox River Grove.

"They're incentives via the federal government through the state, which refunds 35 percent of the interest on that, which calculates to save over $800,000 for the village," Nunamaker said.

Opponents still say the garage has no place on a residential street and will drive down property values.

Kayler said he put his house on the market and at least one person told him he wouldn't buy it because of the garage.