The eight candidates running for Naperville City Council this spring are a mixed bag when it comes to their visions for how city land around Naperville’s Fifth Avenue train station should be developed.
As the April 1 election fast approaches and early voting set to start March 17, the Naperville Sun asked the candidates vying for the four four-year council terms to answer several questions related to the issues, including whether the city should make it a priority to relaunch stalled plans to redevelop the Fifth Avenue property.
The candidates — incumbents Benny White, Ian Holzhauer and Jennifer Bruzan Taylor and challengers Ashfaq Syed, Nag Jaiswal, Derek McDaniel, Mary Gibson, and Meghna Bansal — also were also what they would like to see the land used for and what the city’s role should be in funding a redevelopment plan.
Efforts to chart a new path forward for the site, just over 14.5 acres of land owned or leased by the city, have been discussed on and off for more than a decade. Most recently, the council last fall opted to seek outside guidance to assist in deciding how, or if, it should proceed on pursuing new projects for the site.
The city will not receive that advice, which is to come from an expert panel hosted by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), until after the new council is seated.
Holzhauer and Syed said redevelopment should be a priority. White likewise said it “should absolutely be revisited.” Gibson and Bansal encouraged development elsewhere in the city first, while McDaniel said that at this time, he’s “not convinced” that prioritizing Fifth Avenue is in Naperville’s best interest. Jaiswal said it was “premature” to comment prior to hearing back from ULI. Bruzan Taylor said she was curious and open-minded as to ULI’s findings.
According to its website, ULI is a “network of cross-disciplinary real estate and land use experts.” Through the use of a “technical assistance panel,” communities can obtain comprehensive and strategic advice on a specific land use or development project, ULI says. The city applied for the technical assistance in November.
ULI accepts applications on a rolling basis. It typically does not do more than two panels a year because they take four to six months to prepare and complete, city staff say.
When asked about the status of the city’s application, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche in an email Monday said there were “no updates.”
Bruzan Taylor noted “that what ULI presents is nonbinding.” As far as what she envisions, Bruzan Taylor said she thinks Fifth Avenue “should be redeveloped as one planned, coherent development, not parceled out, which may lead to a disconnected hodgepodge.”
She also said she supports Naperville’s general policy to rarely offer tax incentives and stressed that any redevelopment efforts should benefit surrounding neighborhoods and schools.
Holzhauer also pointed to engaging with ULI, saying that he feels “strongly that by starting with a baseline plan, developed by a nonprofit with no financial skin in the game … we can have a process that is transparent and ultimately succeeds.”
The city needs “to plan a beautiful, mixed-use, transit-oriented space that harmonizes with the existing area,” he said.
Syed said it is time “for the city to prioritize a well-planned, community-driven approach to determine the best use of this land.” Redevelopment, Syed said, could include anything from transit-oriented housing that supports a range of incomes to expanded parking and infrastructure improvement. He encouraged community and stakeholder engagement and careful consideration of taxpayer investment.
Residents throughout Naperville, and particularly those living closest to the Fifth Avenue station, “must have a strong voice in shaping the plans,” said White, who also said a revisited planning process should “avoid some of the pitfalls that occurred the last time redevelopment was considered.”
A few years ago, the city worked on a redevelopment plan with Minnesota-based Ryan Cos., which got as far as presenting a baseline concept plan to the city in October 2019. That proposal, though, was denied after facing resistance from residents.
White envisions “a mixed-use development that incorporates residential options such as condos, townhomes and apartments, paired with small businesses, retail shops and service providers,” he said.
While supportive of looking at the best use for Fifth Avenue land, redevelopment is not Gibson’s top priority, she said. Rather, she’d prioritize development in south Naperville “to bring companies, jobs and tax revenue to that area of town,” she said.
As to Fifth Avenue, a “winning proposal,” Gibson said, would be “a mixed use development that is a reasonable scale for the surrounding neighborhood” and doesn’t “compound congestion and safety concerns.”
Bansal also pointed to prioritizing development in other areas of the city first, identifying “the tollway corridor as the city’s top economic development priority.” She added, “The underutilized properties along the tollway are in Districts 203 and 204, while the downtown train station is exclusively in just one school district.”
Eventually the Fifth Avenue site will need a new vision, but “it is important to emphasize that the city is not in the development business,” she said.
Jaiswal, in a similar vein, said the city “should consider broadening their capital investments beyond downtown Naperville for an equitable growth of tax base around the city,” adding, south Naperville residents are “under increasing property tax burden and are looking for relief from any and all projects that can offset their (Indian Prairie School District) 204 tax burden.”
Though recognizing the Fifth Avenue area as a “unique and valuable asset” for the city, McDaniel voiced concerns about the long-term viability of redeveloping the site with retail or restaurants. Should redevelopment move forward, it should be done “thoughtfully,” McDaniel said, and “the city’s financial contribution should be carefully evaluated to ensure taxpayers are not burdened with unnecessary risks or costs.”
For more voter information on the upcoming election and early voting, go to www.naperville.il.us/government/voting-and-voter-registration.
If you’d like to know more about the council candidates’ backgrounds and what they said specifically about issues in the Naperville Sun questionnaire, go to www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/12/naperville-council-candidate-questionnaire-april-2025-election.
