A lopsided 25-1 vote Thursday by the Will County Board against a plan by the Mokena Park District to build a recreation center on the Yunker Farm property led the Park Board president to all but admit defeat.
“Any avenue we’ve had is pretty much closed, and I know of no other avenues,” parks President Tom Canna said.
He thought the County Board was somehow misguided in thinking the negative vote would force the Park District to deal with the Village of Mokena, which, he said, already had been tried and failed.
“I don’t know, but somehow Mr. Siegel [County Board member Paul Siegel] thinks that the county closing the door will somehow further the project,” Canna said.
Late Thursday, Mokena Mayor Robert Chiszar said the Park District needs to reassess the project.
“If they want to move forward, our doors are open to discuss some kind of common ground to get that accomplished,” Chiszar said.
“If the prime purpose is to get the recreation center built, we need to get together and talk about how to get the building built and where to build it,” he said. “We’re amenable to talking to them at anytime.”
The Park District proposed building a $3.8 million recreation center on 115 acres of unincorporated land near Mokena. It turned to the county for the necessary zoning changes in December after trying unsuccessfully for months to have the property annexed into the village.
The Village Board had vetoed annexation because members disliked the plans, especially the location of the center on the south side of the Yunker Farm, which lies along LaPorte Road just west of Schoolhouse Road.
County Board members Thursday said they felt the recreation center should be built in Mokena. “We want to see the local people get together and work this out,” said board member Terri Ann Wintermute of Bolingbrook.
Siegel agreed, adding that the board was not voting for or against the recreation center itself.”We would like these two entities to come together to make a mutually beneficial decision for the area,” Siegel said.
When the village rejected the plans, some Mokena trustees said they wanted to see a comprehensive plan for development of the entire farm before annexing the site.
In January, Mokena Park Commissioner Mark Costigan said he believed Mokena officials preferred building the recreation center on the north side of the property, where it might provide additional traffic and a boost to downtown shopping.
Canna said then that building on the north side would “negatively impact the historical value of the farmstead.” The original farm buildings are located on the north side of the property.
The Park District purchased the farm from the late Edwin Yunker in 1997. At the time of the sale, Yunker expressed the wish that all or part of the site be preserved as a working farm.
Canna, the Park Board president, said Thursday that members of the community will have to decide if they want a recreation center and, if they do, attend Village Board meetings to make their wishes known.
Mokena Trustee Frank Fleischer agreed that residents need to speak up and added that the recreation center did not belong on that piece of property.
“Our job as trustees is to bring it up to the residents, but the County Board listened to the residents. It was the residents of the village that stopped the project,” Fleischer said.
