Traffic issues quickly became the focus of a Lisle public hearing about a proposed expansion of the Lucent Technologies complex at Warrenville and Naperville Roads. Several residents of subdivisions along Naperville Road expressed their concerns about adding thousands of cars to the roadways.
“Try to overcome the temptation to let a juicy development be approved without solutions to traffic problems and financing,” Randy Johnson of unincorporated Naperville told the Lisle Plan Commission Thursday night.
Lucent Technologies wants permission to build a 600,000-square-foot office building on Warrenville Road that would house 2,000 additional employees. Two new parking decks would hold 900 cars each, and a flat lot in front of the lobby would accommodate 200 visitor cars.
The company is also asking Lisle to annex 18 acres along the east side of Naperville Road. This land could some day be the site of another 660,000 square feet of office space for 2,500 employees.
Congestion at Warrenville and Naperville Roads is already intense, said Paul Spero Kitsakos, a traffic consultant hired by Lucent. In a previous meeting with county road officials and representatives of Naperville and Lisle, there was agreement that the roads need upgrading, said Kitsakos, who recommended additional lanes.
Additional development is proposed for the Central Park of Lisle complex, also at Warrenville and Naperville Roads. Duke Realty Investments, which bought the site last summer, wants to build two additional office towers. The complex would eventually contain a total of 998,000 square feet of office space and additional parking, but that proposal exceeds the size of a plan approved by Lisle 10 years ago.
After the public hearing, Plan Commission members voted to send the Duke plans to the Village Board but recommended against approving the additional square footage.
