Kane Co. Board Dist. 11 candidates clash on Settler's Hill projects
The Kane County Board seat with the most constituents affected by any redevelopment of the former Settler's Hill landfill will have a new representative after the Nov. 4 election. There are two candidates vying to steer that redevelopment in polar opposite directions.
Republican John Martin is incumbent Mike Donahue's hand-picked successor. As such, Martin said during a Daily Herald endorsement interview he is "pretty much in sync" with the concept plans for Settler's Hill.
The first step of that plan would bring a cross-country track to the actual landfill mound adjacent to the existing golf course.
"We won't know how the feasibility study will come out until it's completed, but, on a preliminary basis, it seems like it will be a good utilization of the east side of that landfill. And, if the projections hold, it may be an economic boost for the area."
That's too many what-ifs for Martha Hanna, the Democrat seeking the seat, to support the track. She doesn't buy into the theory of the facility attracting more than a dozen track meets and raising as much as $225,000 in parking fees.
"I'm not opposed to the development, but I'm opposed to this track," Hanna said. "I just don't see spending a bunch of money on a landfill that's eventually going to sink. I'd love to see somebody from the NCAA say, 'We're going to have this track, and we're going to maintain it.' But I don't hear anybody else saying anything about the track except for the county. There's way too many questions."
Martin sees the proposed track as pairing perfectly with the existing minor league ballpark, golf course and ice arena on the larger Fabyan Parkway campus that hosts the landfill.
"You've got kind of a sports corridor in there that would be, from the standpoint of the county, a plus," Martin said. "The continual use of other forest preserve property for the myriad cross-country races is burdensome to the other preserves. And I've not heard anybody, including those who are maybe opposed to this, announce another thought."
Martin said any further development of the campus should be driven by what the market dictates. He won't fully embrace the other concepts for Settler's Hill, such as placing a hotel/convention center on the former jail site, until he sees a credible proposal from an actual developer, he said.
Hanna said she would steer redevelopment of the property away from moneymaking ventures and toward projects she believes are more "for the residents of the county."
Her vision entails building a Monarch Butterfly habitat by planing milkweed plants on the property. She wants more native plantings and an area to house honeybee hives.
"I'm just for the little critters," Hanna said.