A site plan for Du Page County`s expanding government complex in west Wheaton has passed its first major hurdle and has been forwarded to the County Board for final approval.
The board`s Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend the approval of a plan that pinpoints the location of as many as six new buildings on the 176-acre county campus, located at the northeast corner of County Farm and Manchester Roads.
County Board approval could come as early as Tuesday.
The focal point and impetus for the site plan is the county`s proposed $51.6 million courthouse.
Work on the 330,000-square-foot building is scheduled to start next summer and be completed in 1991. The new courthouse is designed to incorporate all of Du Page County Circuit Court`s criminal and civil courtrooms.
Based on the site plan recommended for approval by the Judiciary Committee, the four-story courthouse will be located roughly midway between Du Page Center, the county government buildings that face County Farm Road, and the Du Page County Fairgrounds, which lie immediately to the east.
The plan also delineates sites for two parking garages, a jail addition, an office building and an addition to the administration building.
The sites for the proposed parking garages anchor the northwest and northeast corners of the county complex just south of the Chicago & North Western railroad tracks.
The jail addition is proposed for an area directly west of the existing jail. The office building site is at the south end and directly east of the new courthouse. If the county government offices are expanded in the future, it will be done south of the existing building, according to the plan.
The plan includes a total redesign of existing parking areas and identifies at least two new sites for storm water retention.
So far, the County Board only has approved the design of a courthouse.
The site plan does not include any of the county fairgrounds property, which is under a long-term lease by the Du Page Fair Association.
