Politics & Government

Candidates Sound Off on Hubble

Wheaton City Council and Park District board candidates answered questions from the community on issues they'd face if elected to the council or the board next month.

City Council and Park District board candidates each stated his or her opinion on the sale of Hubble at the League of Women Voters/Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Candidate forum Tuesday night.

District 200 is the owner of the property, and passed a resolution to sell it in a sealed bid process for a minimum of $10 million. The park district proposed to buy the property at fair market value or allow it "first right of refusal." When the board passed the resolution to sell, Andy Johnson, president of the school board, said the decision does not preclude the park district from submitting a bid. Further, the district said it would work with developers to ensure the park district would continue to use the open space for athletic programs. The park district wrote in a press release Tuesday that it would not be submitting a bid for the property.

City Council candidates answer: “What is your position on the park district purchasing of the Hubble Property?”

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Evelyn Pacino Sanguinetti said she is in favor of a mixed-use plan. “I am in favor of the development of the front part of the Hubble Middle School site and I’d like to see that go to the private sector—preferably, a grocery store.” She said her position is based on conversations with voters, particularly senior citizens who cannot obtain medication within walking distance, and would benefit from a grocery store downtown.

Alberta Adamson agreed that the best use for the site is a mixed-use option. “However, I think that we should be able to recycle the building—I’m a proponent of adaptive reuse,” which is, “a green initiative,” she said. She explained that her ideal situation for the site would include a boutique hotel, which would require retrofitting the building and turning the classrooms into hotel suites and the larger rooms into conference center spaces.

Find out what's happening in Wheatonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Bob Molenhouse said he’d like to see part of the property go back to the private sector to generate tax revenue for the city. He added, “my understanding is … the school district—they were supposed to sell it in order to help pay for the new school. If that’s what they were supposed to do, then that’s what they should do because that’s what they told the taxpayers they’d do.”

Derek Bromstead said that hopefully, whoever buys the site would provide structures and services and attract people to the city—to enjoy the downtown shops and people. “The city needs to be the gatekeepers of the gateway (to downtown Wheaton) … and make sure whatever is put there is an appropriate use of space for the community,” he said.

Jeanne Ives said that as a proponent of property rights. “This is district 200’s property. It’s their right to sell it, give it away, whatever they want to do with it, and until we see a plan, we can’t make a decision on it,” she said. She added that the market will decide what will go there, and when a plan comes forward for whoever purchases the property, she cited four guiding principles for evaluating it: 1, it has to fit with the surrounding area; 2, it has to maximize potential tax revenues; 3, it has to allow for recreation; and 4, it cannot increase the flooding that occurs there already.

Park board candidates: “What is your position on the school district’s plan to sell hubble?”

Kim VanderSchaaf said although District 200 did not agree to sell the property to the park district, the park district is “… not without options … the district has taken steps to ensure the park district can still benefit from the land, by putting into agreements with developers that they should work with the park district.” This will benefit the park district without having the risks of owning the property outright, she said, noting that there is asbestos in the building and the demolition cost is estimated at $2-4 million. There would also be the risk of trying to sell the property themselves if the park district owned it outright, she said.

Christensen: “I was in favor of the park district taking over the school. It’s unfortunate … that the school district didn’t break the property up in two parcels, and that the part that is undevelopable … to have given it to that over park district to let them continue to use the fields and leave it as open space … hopefully things will be able to be worked out in the long run.”

Phil Luetkehans said that it’s likely that no one will be bidding on the $10 million open bid. “I think what you’re going to see is that this property is not worth $10 million—in fact I’m pretty sure of that. When that occurs, we will be back at the table with the school district to try and negotiate development on that property.” Development would include commercial and recreational use, he said. He added that the park board is “resilient” and “strong” in its position on Hubble, and “we’re going to do anything we can to try to acquire it.” 

Ray Morrill said he was disappointed that the school district did not want to sit and talk with the park district to negotiate. He said that after almost two years of meeting with representatives from the school district, the city, the park district and residents, and hearing that the school district was in no hurry to sell, “it surprised us and caught us off guard,” when they decided to put the property out for a public bid.  “I don’t think anyone’s going to bid on it. And I hope once that happens, we can sit down and work out an amicable solution to this.”

Terry Mee said it’ll be “somewhat astonishing if there is a minimum bid of $10 million by any developer.” He added, “Unfortunately the park district has had to take a backseat for the time being on this, but we’re not totally without options. We’re at least hopeful that we can work with a possible developer if there is a bid. However the school district’s desire and statement of ‘please work with the park district’ is somewhat shallow … there’s no guarantee that a developer is going to work with us.”

 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here