Politics & Government
No City Park on Evergreen Farms
Aldermen reject pursuing a grant to buy land once proposed to store dirt from Route 47 construction project.
Yorkville aldermen to buy the Evergreen Farms property and build a dog park, amphitheatre and sports fields there.
That's the same land where D Construction Management wanted to store and spread clean fill from the Route 47 construction project - a project that aldermen also rejected by denying a special use permit. Since that vote, biosolids (sludge from a sewage treatment plant) was spread on the property.
The land sits off Fox Street west of town near Pavillion Road.
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The city's part board suggested purchasing the property through an Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant, which is a state grant, with the city using land along Kennedy Road owned by the Corlands as a match for the grant.
"The property owner is interested in selling and stated that he has a property interested but no property has been sold," Laura Schraw, Interim Director of Parks and Recreation, said in a memo.
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Aldermen were not interested in developing the property as a park, but some expressed displeasure with the sewage sludge.
Ward 4 Alderman Rose Spears questioned the health affects associated with land that received sludge and indicated it was probably as bad as Three Mile Island, which was the site of a nucelar meltdown in March 1979.
“I don’t think they are really being regulated," Spears said. “... I certainly would not let me children or grandchildren or anybody play on that property.”
Ward 1 Alderman Carlo Colosimo cautioned that the state, not the local government, govered sewage sluge. Ward 3 Alderman Chris Funkhouser said the property's location was not conducive for a park.
Meanwhile, Ward 4 Alderman Diane Teeling pondered the land's recent use.
"I think the dirt from Route 47 would have been better than what’s going there," Teeling said.
Aldermen unanimously voted Tuesday against pursuing the puchase grant.
Editor's note: The property discussed here is adjacent, but not associated with, the Evergreen Farm produce stand. For more information, .