A consultant recommended Monday that the DuPage Airport Authority move ahead with efforts to develop two smaller parcels of vacant property at the airport and to bring a hotel to the field.
There is no need to delay those efforts while awaiting a formal proposal from parties exploring the possibility of building a motor speedway on 700 acres of airport-owned land south of Roosevelt Road, said development consultant Daniel Hanesworth.
In a memo to members of the airport board’s Development Committee, Hanesworth said work on marketing the other properties is independent of the proposed speedway.
A spokesman for the airport said there have been no concrete proposals from the racetrack interests. Concerns about financing and noise levels have yet to be addressed.
Thomas Meagher, chairman of the airport board’s Development Committee, said DuPage County Board Chairman Gayle Franzen is sounding out local officials to determine whether there is any opposition to the idea.
The other parcels that the airport hopes to develop include about 90 acres north of the field and north of North Avenue and a triangle of land south of the field but north of Roosevelt Road.
The airport has begun leasing office space on the vacant third floor of its Flight Center, apparently giving up on plans to lure a major restaurant to the building.
Hanesworth said what he called predevelopment work on the hotel and the two smaller parcels could be completed within 45 days at a cost of about $38,000.
Officials have talked for years about bringing development to vacant land owned by the airport in hopes of generating revenues that would lessen its reliance on property taxes. The airport solicited statements of interest from developers late last year.
Also Monday, the airport board approved without discussion a tax levy for next year that includes a 4.5 percent increase for the operating fund. The increase, though, is likely to go unnoticed by most DuPage residents because the airport’s overall levy is slated to decline significantly as the airport completes payment on a $40 million bond issue.
