Warrenville to buy former gas station site

Warrenville will soon buy a former gas station that has stood vacant for nearly four years at the corner of Warrenville and Batavia roads.

The city council this week authorized staff to complete the purchase of the roughly 1-acre site near the West Branch of the DuPage River. The acquisition will allow the city to pursue an environmental cleanup of the property so it can be redeveloped.

"This is one of those problems that has to be solved at the community level," Mayor David Brummel said Thursday. "The property was contaminated to such an extent that private enterprise would never undertake cleaning it up and redeveloping it in a way that would be positive for the community."

The sale is expected to be finalized later this month, officials said. The land will cost $30,000, but the city will need to pay roughly $40,000 in back taxes.

The owners of the gas station shuttered the business in July 2016 because it wasn't profitable.

Redeveloping the site is a challenge because part of it is in a floodplain. The land also has contamination caused more than two decades ago by a leaking underground storage tank.

While the company that owned the station at the time replaced the faulty tank, it never addressed the contamination. City officials say they want the property cleaned to "residential standards."

Demolishing structures, removing fuel tanks and cleaning the site is expected to cost more than $1.2 million. The city is going to seek grants to help pay for that work, which is expected to take several years.

"We have the resources to do it," Brummel said. "We have opportunities through outside grant funding."

Plans call for the eastern portion of the site that's in the floodplain to be used for open space with a trail. The west side will be redeveloped along with two adjacent properties the city owns to the north.

While the cleanup is expected to take years, Brummel said residents will be pleased something is being done.

"The question I'm asked most is, 'When is the city going to do something with that gas station?'" Brummel said. "People are going to be delighted that we're finally taking action to do something about that eye sore."