DuPage County Board members this week signaled support for using fairground property for a new multimillion-dollar transportation complex.
Division of Transportation officials told board members that the existing garage, built in 1957, has outlived its useful life. They also said the 58,000-square-foot structure is too small to meet county needs.
Plans to use roughly 10 acres on the north end of the fairgrounds would provide enough space for a new 160,000-square-foot garage, a salt shed and wash facilities for county vehicles.
The project, estimated to cost between $73 million and $82 million, includes 4.5 acres of green space and a new public restroom facility on the fairgrounds.
County board member Mary FitzGerald Ozog, who also heads the board’s transportation committee, stressed a good road system is critical to the county’s economic success.
She noted the county’s division of transportation takes care of 220 miles of county highways and 92 miles of multi-use trails. It also maintains 650 vehicles in the countywide fleet and is responsible for snow removal on county roads.
“All of this work is performed from an almost 70-year-old facility, and it needs to be replaced,” Ozog said.
The project would be spread out over four budget cycles — including $25 million earmarked in the 2025 budget board members approved Tuesday.
The transportation division has enough funds on hand to cover $60 million of the project costs. The remaining $22 million would have to come in the form of a loan from the county’s general fund or a bank. Whichever the case, the division of transportation would repay the loan over eight years.
Last week, county board members reviewed the results of a feasibility study into the possibility of a performing arts center on the fairgrounds complex. That study proposed an $87 million complex that would include a large outdoor concert venue, three buildings for digital media, music and dance education programs and a smaller outdoor concert venue.
On Tuesday, DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy appeared to signal support for the transportation complex over a larger performing arts center.
“Eighty-seven million dollars for a Ravinia West that would have to be completely fundraised, I don’t believe is in my near future as chair,” Conroy said.
“Perhaps as a board, we can shift from Ravinia West to salt shed west,” Conroy added later in the meeting.
She stressed the board would not be voting on “any arts center, of any size, at all.” Rather, she said, a compromise — such as including a smaller outdoor concert venue within the plans for a new transportation complex — would have a better shot.
“A compromise where we can enhance what they do on the fairgrounds and make it all work together … is what I would call an excellent compromise,” she said.
County board member Lynn LaPlante, who championed the feasibility study for a performing arts center, did not comment during Tuesday’s meeting. LaPlante, however, has said in recent weeks that she could not support the “industrialization” of fairground property.
A handful of residents and fairground officials attended Tuesday’s meeting to express concern about the county’s plans for the property.
Jim McGuire, manager of the DuPage County Fair Association, said adding a transportation complex to the property could put the events at the fairgrounds at risk.
He noted the fairgrounds hosted 100 events this year and has drawn more than 320,000 visitors. Many of those events were hosted on the north end of the property where county officials want to locate the transportation complex, he added.
“That is a major concern for the association,” he said.
County officials, however, noted that part of the plans include tearing down the grandstands, which have been condemned already.
That would make way for a new green space that Ozog said was the equivalent of three football fields. County officials noted that would create a space larger than what was used for the Highland Games at the fairgrounds.
Conroy said the county met with fairgrounds officials and held lengthy discussions to reach a compromise where “everyone could get what’s needed.”
County board members next month are expected to approve a resolution backing the project. While county commissions would review the plans, the city of Wheaton would have the final say on approvals.
