Winfield Riverwalk likely to take step forward

Winfield’s Riverwalk Committee will recommend an engineering firm at the village board’s next meeting as the contentious project appears ready to take its next step forward.

The village passed along four engineering bids to the committee for the Winfield portion of the proposed path and the panel will make a recommendation July 21. The overall project is split into three portions: the pathway on forest preserve property, the pathway in Winfield and the urban center development.

Committee Chairman Gary Bernard said the recommendation still needs tweaking before it becomes ready for the village board.

“We want to be credible,” he said Wednesday. “If we are going to make a recommendation, we want to make sure we have a good reason to make that recommendation.”

On Tuesday, much of the talk revolved around what Bernard said were misconceptions about what the early phases of the project will cost the village.

He said the DuPage County Forest Preserve District has applied for grants that would pay for a significant portion of the estimated $3.7 million project.

The grant would pay for most of the engineering on both pathway portions of the project. The forest preserve and Winfield would have to come up with 20 percent of the total cost.

Bernard estimated that would come to a total of between $100,000 and $150,000 for Winfield.

Bernard said the whole process has taken longer than he expected when he first volunteered for the committee in 2007.

“I anticipated that it wouldn’t just go through in a period of a year,” he said. “But I’m a little surprised that, here we are at Year 4 and we’re still talking about design engineering.”

Engineering for the urban center, an ambitious development that is expected to eventually include a gazebo and several shops on the northwest corner of High Lake and Winfield roads, is expected to cost about $208,000. However, the committee has secured a matching grant of up to $80,000 from Central DuPage Hospital for that portion. The remainder would most likely be paid for through impact fees paid when nearby Shelburne Crossing is built.

That part of the equation has resulted in some controversy, as newly elected Trustee Tony Reyes, a supporter of the Riverwalk, has said the village should find ways to pay for road repairs before addressing the Riverwalk.

After the engineering phase, Village Manager Curt Barrett said the village would look into construction grants, which are usually easier to attain after engineering is complete.