Downers Grove Park District officials, still evaluating voters’ advice to dry-dock a planned outdoor pool and recreation center, confronted their predicament and residents this week.
“Do we still continue to plan ahead? We may say we want to meet with people to resolve this. It may be that we’ll drop the whole thing,” Park Board Commissioner William F. Sherman said Thursday night after residents offered divisive positions on how the board should proceed.
The non-binding question on Tuesday’s ballot asked whether voters think the Park District should continue with its $15 million plan to build an outdoor aquatic facility and recreation center near Belmont Road and Grant Street.
The vote was forced by residents who had complained that the project would increase traffic, cause flooding problems at a golf course, cause property values to plummet and pose safety hazards for children.
The board last fall had unanimously approved the plan and hired the Wheaton-based firm Williams Associates Architects Ltd. to complete the design work.
But with 6,939 voters saying no to the issue and 5,747 saying yes, park officials now need to consider whether to take the advice.
More than 75 residents from both sides of the issue turned out at the meeting, held to canvass the election results.
Rita Martin was among those pushing the board to adhere to the vote’s outcome.
“This is a democracy. I think a 1,200 margin is a pretty good show of disapproval of this plan,” Martin said.
But the plan’s backers argued that more residents would support the project for the village, which lacks a public pool, but they simply failed to vote.
The pool’s supporters reminded commissioners that they are not bound by the results of the referendum.
“We elect officials to represent us, and we don’t vote on every issue that comes up,” resident John Klasing said.
Many residents who voted for the project said that even though most voters turned against the plan, the election results show enough support for the board to continue with the project.
“You now know that there are 5,700 people of voting age that are in favor of such a facility,” Cathy Mahoney said.
Several residents who said they voted against the proposal told commissioners that there is room for compromise.
“The `no’ votes are saying, `Not for $15 million and not in that location,’ ” Martin said.
The park board is scheduled to meet on Thursday to begin discussions on how it will proceed.
