An Elmhurst Compromise On Selling Parkland?
ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst officials are considering a compromise for the city’s parkland on the east side of town, a group said this week.
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Keep Elmhurst Green, whose Facebook page has more than 600 followers, said the compromise involves selling some of the land and keeping the rest.
Neighbors are fighting to protect the land, referred to as “green space.” It is between Schiller and Third streets, at the end of Second Street and Elmhurst Avenue.
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At Monday’s City Council meeting, Sara Enright of Keep Elmhurst Green indicated the deal would mean selling the portions of the land next to Schiller and Third streets.
“Selling part of the land would not stop the city from selling the rest of the land in the future,” Enright said.
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Some aldermen, she said, have suggested neighbors of the parkland, seem “entitled and territorial” about the space.
“But by developing the end lots, the city is essentially cutting off the space from the rest of Elmhurst,” Enright said. “Without being visible from Schiller and Third, residents won’t even know the green space exists. You would effectively be creating an exclusive space for the closest neighbors.”
No one from the City Council responded to Enright’s statement, following the council’s policy of silence during public comments.
Before Enright’s statement, Mayor Scott Levin said an earlier closed council meeting for the setting of the price for real estate had nothing to do with the parkland.
Patch has been trying to get more information from Keep Elmhurst Green, which says it has confirmation that a compromise is under consideration.
Patch left a message for comment Wednesday with the city’s spokeswoman about whether a compromise is under consideration.
The city has said selling the parkland would draw $5 million to $6 million, but it would be less than that if only part is sold. City documents have listed that money as possibly helping pay for a new $48 million police station building.
For more than a couple of years, neighbors have been speaking out against the property’s sale. Nearly 1,400 people have signed a Change.org petition to preserve the land.
The property is the site of the old Elmhurst Hospital, given to the city nearly a half-century ago.
So far, city officials have been silent about what they will do. A 50-year agreement to bar development on the land ends in April.
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