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New site touted
for city reservoir
Chicago Tribune
- 2/19
The
Park Ridge City Council has formally endorsed Hinkley Park as
the preferred site of an underground water reservoir and directed
city staff to begin negotiating a land swap with the local Park
District.
Monday
night's 8-6 vote to pursue the site means the Recreation and Park
District might move its maintenance operation into a former public
works facility owned by the city at 1200 W. Elm St. Nicor currently
leases that facility, but the utility company is moving out later
this year.
The
proposal will be discussed Thursday during a Park District Board
meeting.
Elm
Street was the preferred site for the reservoir until the district
suggested putting the reservoir where its own maintenance facility
now sits in Hinkley Park. Building there would reduce the cost
of the 10-million-gallon reservoir by $1.5 million to $2 million,
city officials said.
Aldermen
unanimously rescinded the earlier action on 1200 W. Elm, but many
were reluctant to move forward with Hinkley Park without holding
a joint meeting with the park board or because they were opposed
to endorsing the swap without more public input.
Homeowners
near the 1200 Elm location were promised that the contaminated
industrial site would be converted into a parklike setting once
the reservoir is in place.
The
city's current reservoir requires about $8 million in repairs
and lacks the capacity to meet future water use. It is also in
the heart of downtown, a prime location for economic redevelopment
and vital to attracting developers.
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