The approval Thursday of $731,000 in engineering and other contracts is expected to launch the planning and legal work needed to shape a high-technology research park at DuPage Airport.
The five-member interim board that is overseeing development of the proposed research park entered into contracts with two engineering firms, a land planner and an environmental-testing firm to begin an extensive array of studies needed for the project.
The research park is planned for about 700 acres of airport-owned property along Roosevelt Road and Fabyan Parkway in West Chicago.
The DuPage Technology Park Board also approved the hiring of a lawyer, for up to $50,000, and a financial consultant, for up to $30,000.
Among the first steps for the board is setting up a not-for-profit corporation that will take over responsibility for developing and managing the facility.
The engineering firms are to begin designing the park’s layout and internal roadways, identifying wetlands and potential drainage problems, evaluating existing soil conditions, and determining how to bring electricity and other utilities to the site.
The planning and engineering work could take a year or longer, said Donald Zeilenga, county administrator and acting executive director for the research park project.
“We can’t go out and build without having a plan to build,” Zeilenga said.
A major goal of the engineering studies is to put an estimated price tag on the project, he said.
The initial planning is being funded with a $34 million state grant promised by Gov. George Ryan and approved by the legislature in April 2000. But most officials expect the cost of building roads and making other infrastructure improvements will be higher.
The so-called Tech Board is headed by County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom and includes representatives from the airport board and the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
Rosemont-based Christopher B. Burke Engineering Ltd. will be paid $325,000 to manage the planning work and do the wetland studies. Burke also will study water and sewerage needs and determine whether they can be met by West Chicago’s municipal system.
The other engineering firms and their contracts are Knight Infrastructure LLC of Chicago, $199,941 to evaluate building code requirements and review other utility needs; SmithGroup JJR Inc. of Chicago, $50,000 to act as land planner; and Testing Service Corp. of Carol Stream, $76,076 for soils testing and environmental survey work.
Burke and Knight are politically favored engineering firms that have received hundreds of thousands of dollars this year in no-bid contracts from the County Board. They also have contributed thousands of dollars in recent years to the campaigns of DuPage politicians.
Burke Engineering, for example, has made at least $19,000 in political donations to Schillerstrom since 1999, according to campaign-finance reports.
George D. Maurides, the lawyer hired by the Tech Board, is a real estate development and zoning attorney who also has made political contributions to Schillerstrom. According to state records, Maurides’ law firm, Maurides & Foley, has donated $5,185 to Schillerstrom’s campaign over the last two years. The firm also donated $500 last year to the campaign of County Board member William Maio Jr. (R-Itasca), one of Schillerstrom’s key political allies.
Schillerstrom said the campaign contributions played no role in the selection of Maurides and the engineering firms.
“Don [Zeilenga] interviewed all these people, and he made the recommendations,” Schillerstrom said. “They’re the best people for the job. Nothing else entered into this, except that they’re the best people for the job.”
