The Aurora City Council Tuesday night approved an intergovernmental agreement with Kane County for a new sound wall along Orchard Road.
The agreement means the city and county would put up a concrete sound wall along the highway on Aurora’s far West Side, although the agreement still needs the 74 property owners that front onto the road to approve their participation in the project.
The noise along Orchard Road has been well-documented for years, and has only gotten worse as car and truck traffic has increased.
Most of the $4 million cost for the wall would be borne by four state grants the city has accumulated for the project. Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, whose ward includes the roadway, has accumulated $625,000 in ward funds to put toward it.
The accumulated funds still leave a gap that the homeowners along Orchard Road would have to fund. Franco said this week that with his ward funds added – he said last week he had $500,000 accumulated, but said this week he could add another $125,000 in ward funds during the next few years – homeowners would have to pay about $110,000.
The plan is for the city to form a special service area that would collect the money as part of regular tax payments for the next 25 years. Franco said with the added $125,000, it should make the yearly payments for homeowners about $100 or less.
“I’m trying to make this as palatable as possible,” Franco said. “These people have been putting up with this noise for so long.”
Ald. John Laesch, at large, said when he talked to residents along the road there is “overwhelming support” for the wall, but not necessarily for the special service area.
He suggested the city look into using gaming taxes to cover the rest of the project gap, and moved an amendment to the agreement that said the city would look into other ways to fund the wall in the future.
The amendment failed in a 10-1 vote. Franco called the amendment “fluff” because the city is already looking for funding sources.
“I don’t even know that this is a thing,” Franco said of the amendment.
Ken Schroth, the city’s Public Works director, said Aurora has “a long history” of using special service areas for public improvements. It is common for property owners to share in the cost of a major improvement that benefits their properties, he said.
Other aldermen agreed.
“When people and homes receive benefits, they are asked to participate,” said Ald. Michael Saville, 6th Ward.
To establish a special service area, people in the affected area have a chance to vote on it. If 51% of the property owners approve the special service area, it is established.
Schroth said in this case, if the property owners turn down the special service area, the city and county would replace the current wooden fence – which is not a sound wall – with another wooden fence.
If the special service area is approved and the new concrete sound wall is built, the city would do basic maintenance on it, and Kane County would do any capital maintenance needed.
slord@tribpub.com
