A drone video of the eight acres that make up a tent city underscores the daunting task the city of Elgin has in cleaning up the site.
“It is extensive,” said Greg Hulke, the city’s parks superintendent who showed the video and photos of the site to the Elgin City Council this week. “It’s a huge site. We were in awe of how far it goes, the amount of trash and the amount of stuff on this site.”
The council has committed to spending up to $425,000 to move the 60 or more people who live there to motel rooms until spring so that the 2,000-foot stretch of makeshift homes parallel to the Metra train tracks along Route 31 can be razed and removed. There are smaller encampments along the banks of the Fox River as well.
It is no small undertaking to remove something that has been around for decades.
Tent city once had its own “mayor” and a boardwalk, officials said, but the number of people living there has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and with them came more problems, including two fires earlier this month and more than 80 police service calls this year.
Today, in addition to wood, plastic and other materials used to create shelter, the encampment is filled with homemade heaters, empty propane tanks, old furniture, biohazardous materials, bicycles, riding lawn mowers, building materials and lots of trash, said Hulke, who recently walked through the area with other city staff and officials.
The people living there are “very ingenious” in finding ways to house themselves, he told the council.
Vendors brought in by the city to the survey the site said remediation will be required, and the cost to clear the land — a job that could take anywhere from 60 to 120 days — will be anywhere from $2.2 million to $2.5 million.
Hulke said the vendors he spoke to recommended creating a gravel road, possibly on the north side of the site, so crews can demolish about 70 structures, he said.
A majority of the trees will be cut down, but the stumps and root systems need to stay in place to avoid erosion, Hulke said. The goal is to return the area to its natural state, which could include planting prairie grass.
Fencing will go up when the site is cleared. Going forward, there will be zero tolerance for any future encampments on the land, officials said.
Tent city residents can remove their belongings prior to demolition, Hulke said at the meeting.
“The site is not currently fenced off,” he said. “People are living down there. There is no reason they can’t access their own property.”
The council will discuss putting out a request for proposals for the removal work in early January. Elgin police plan to let residents know about the relocation plan in the second week of January, with the move scheduled to start about Jan. 20.
Elgin Fire Chief Robb Cagann said the two fires that occurred in the encampment Dec. 4 and Dec. 12 shows the danger of living in the area. While there’s been no official cause determined for either incident, it’s likely they were accidental and probably involved makeshift heating systems, he said.
Firefighters found 30-gallon drum barrels in the camp that had been converted into furnace-like units, Cagann said.
What these homemade systems don’t have are metal screens to keep embers contained or safety features to stop accidents from occurring, he said. Embers can catch fire to things like clothing, combustible furniture materials and wood on fire, he said.
Firefighters also found propane tanks in the area, the chief said.
“There are a tremendous number of tanks in that area not only being utilized but also piles of used propane tanks,” Cagann said.
The danger is the tanks aren’t always empty and can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, he said.
A dog died that died in the second blaze “highlights the real-world danger of fires,” he said. “Rapid fire development can preclude people from being able to escape, which is what appeared to have happened here (with the animal).”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
