Tons of rubble would finally be removed from a west suburban Cook County forest preserve next summer under a tentative agreement approved Wednesday.
The Forest Preserve District’s accord with the Glenview-based DiPaolo Co. starts to bring closure to an issue that boiled over last year and helped to highlight the agency’s loose oversight of its lands.
After awarding three extensions, the district in July 2004 had ordered the company to remove the 140,000 tons of limestone near 5th Avenue and River Road in River Grove that was the byproduct of the Deep Tunnel dig.
DiPaolo had used the material in Fullerton Woods for road-building and other projects but what remained, company officials said, was of low quality and more difficult to reuse.
After months of on-again, off-again talks, the district commissioners in November 2004 authorized legal action if the conflict was not resolved, and the land was not cleaned up.
A lawsuit was never filed and on Wednesday commissioners unanimously approved the tentative agreement.
Board President John Stroger said the staff told him the agreement “closes the deal,” but the district’s chief attorney said they needed another week or so to finalize the terms.
“I’m very pleased by this agreement,” said Commissioner Peter Silvestri, who is also the mayor of neighboring Elmwood Park. “It brings to a conclusion a very long chapter in the history of Fullerton Woods.”
DiPaolo officials did not return calls seeking comment.
According to a district memo outlining the deal, DiPaolo would pay the district $200,000 and post a $1 million performance bond.
Ten percent of the stone would be removed by March 15, with all of it to be gone by July 1, according to the memo, which was not released by the district but was obtained by the Tribune.
The district would also hire an independent monitor paid for by DiPaolo.
The district retained DiPaolo in 1996 to dispose of the limestone produced in the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s project to collect rainwater runoff.
Environmentalists cried foul when they learned the company brought crushed concrete and other materials to the site, raising concerns about how the district was caring for its lands.
Commissioners since that time have strengthened the district’s land-use policy.
Commissioner Mike Quigley, who pushed for the stronger policy, said situations like the one in Fullerton Woods are less likely to happen again.
“I think we have more controls and there’s more people watching,” Quigley said.
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mciokajlo@tribune.com
