Residents Oppose Darien Basin Project

DARIEN, IL — Residents in the Farmingdale subdivsion oppose a city proposal to convert a grassy drainage basin into an area with native plants. Their alderman, who said he found out about the idea last week, indicated he, too, would be against it.

The basin, officially known as the Nantucket Drainage Basin, is surrounded by Andermann Lane, Nantucket Drive, 79th Street and Del Court. It is southeast of the intersection of Cass Avenue and 75th Street.

At Monday's City Council meeting, Nantucket Drive resident William Barry said he obtained signatures from 14 of the 24 residents surrounding the basin in opposition to the proposal.

"We don't want anything touched. We don't want a natural area back there," he told aldermen, most of whom were connected to the meeting remotely. He said he expected to get more signatures.

Barry said he and other residents were pointed to similar projects in other areas — 67th Street and Richmond Avenue, 67th and High Road and a newer development on Manning Road near Walmart.

"They are overgrown. They look like abandoned lots to me. I don't think they're well-maintained nature areas," Barry said. "The idea of having butterflies and birds, that isn't what those areas look like."

When city officials revealed the proposal earlier this year, they contended the project would beautify the neighborhood, improve the environment and save on maintenance. The city also raised the possibility it could add walking paths in the drainage area.

Adding native plants and flowers, the city said, would attract butterflies and native birds and improve air quality and drainage. A proposed "rain garden" could be used as an educational took for local schools, the city said.

The basin brings "maintenance challenges" to the city's public works department, the city said in a letter to residents on its website, signed by Mayor Joseph Marchese. The challenges are the result of deposits of sediments and continuing erosion that the grassy basin cannot withstand long-term, the letter said. The outcome is ponding and saturation levels that hinder mowing in the basin, the city said.

At the council meeting, Barry said the basin fills with three or four feet of water a few times in the summer.

"I can't imagine how you're going to get anything that's going to live under three or four feet of water," he said. "There are a lot of people who don't want it to change."

The city posted details of the proposal on its website about two months ago, with Darien Patch publishing a story about it Feb. 12.

Ward 1 Alderman Ted Schauer, who represents the area in question, said he learned of the proposal last week. He read off a list of names of residents who informed him they opposed the project. He said he hasn't received so many comments about a situation in his ward in his 11 years on the council.

"I'm going to tell you for the record right off the bat that I'm going to be supporting my people. I'll leave it at that," he said.

City officials said the proposal could come before the council in the next two to four weeks.