By Matt Schury
The Kendall County Board reached an agreement Tuesday to sell the former county jail, on Madison Street in downtown Yorkville, to the City of Yorkville for $160,000.
The board voted 7-2 to sell the jail to the city with County Board members Elizabeth Flowers and Nancy Martin casting the two dissenting votes. Kendall County Board Chairman Anne Vickery was absent from the meeting. Vice Chairman John Purcell acted as the chairman for the meeting.
Purcell noted that the sale would now need to be approved by the Yorkville City Council before a closing date is set.
The resolution also included a stipulation that the dollars from the purchase be put into the County’s Capital Improvement Fund.
City officials have supported the idea of turning the old jail into a museum and using the rest of the lot for parking.
Board member Nancy Martin has voiced her opposition to selling the jail to the city in the past.
“I’m fighting the battle and I know I’m losing it but I hope that maybe the Yorkville alderman will look more into this,” she said.
Part of the agreement involves the city vacating half of Jefferson Street and one block of West Ridge between Jefferson and Main Street The other half of Jefferson Street would go to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which Kendall County Administrator Jeff Wilkins said he believes they would vacate back to the county.
The resolution to sell the building includes an agreement that the county pay up to half the cost for the city to add a new sanitary sewer stub at an estimated price of $10,000. By doing this, the city would be able to vacate an aging sanitary sewer line that runs near Jefferson Street.
During the County Board’s Committee of the Whole meeting last week, Yorkville City Engineer Joe Wywrot noted that only one building (formerly used as the Bristol Kendall fire station at 101 W. Fox St.) hooks to the old sewer line.
There is an updated sewer line that runs along Fox Street that the building could hook up to, giving the city the ability to vacate the old sewer line that would run through the county’s property, Wywrot mentioned.
Shortly before the vote, County Board member Bob Davidson voiced concern about taking the sewer easement off the property.
“If Yorkville is dumb enough to buy this I want to give it to them, but I also don’t want to pay the $5,000 to improve the sewer that we have no part of,” Davidson said.
Board member Jeff Wehrli felt that giving the city up to $5,000 to tie the old fire station into an existing sanitary sewer instead of running it back through what would potentially be their property was a good idea.
“What that does is it gets rid of an easement or right-of-way that we would have to keep in there that would allow the city to come in and repair this antiquated sanitary pipe that they don’t want there either,” Wehrli said.
With the county free of easement, Wehrli said he felt it would give the county more options to expand its office campus in the area.
Board member Jessie Hafenrichter agreed that the city should vacate the old sewer line but felt the county shouldn’t have to pay for the hook up to the new line.
Wehrli added that the county should not hold up the sale because of the $5,000.
Davidson insisted that the county didn’t need to spend $5,000 to take the easement away.
“I know it’s just $5,000 but that $5,000 of taxpayers money and that’s Yorkville’s problem not ours,” Davidson said.
“Bob, I agree with you it’s Yorkville’s problem but it becomes our problem when the right-of-way doesn’t go away and they have the right to come up into whatever we happen to do with this property and make necessary repairs,” Wehrli said.
After the meeting, Bob Davidson said he was glad the county could get rid of the old jail.
“Look, the jail isn’t worth a plugged nickel and it was going to cost probably $100,000 just to tear it down,” Davidson said.
Purcell said he was glad that the issue would soon come to some resolution.
“It’s been a long drawn out process but hopefully everything will come together and we will close on this,” Purcell said.
Yorkville plans for
museum, parking facility
Last week during the COW meeting Yorkville Mayor Valerie Burd announced that the city had been able to reach the county’s sale price of $160,000 through a state tourism grant and reimbursements from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to replace parking spaces along Route 47 when the road is widened.
Burd said IDOT intends to give the city $600,000 in funding so the city can construct a parking garage once the funding is available to widen Route 47. Burd said IDOT is taking about 20 parking spots from the city along Route 47. IDOT is also giving the city $96,000 to purchase the jail. The city plans to construct a parking garage behind the jail along Van Emmon Road.
Martin maintained that she was skeptical the state would come through with the funding.
Martin filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the city for information regarding the agreement with IDOT.
“There is nothing in there from IDOT that says they are going to contribute up to $600,000 to build the parking lot,” she said. “It says they are going to give them $96,000 to purchase the building and the lots.”
Martin obtained the city’s tourism grant application, which shows an anticipated renovation time line between April 2010 and September 2011 with a price of $360,000.
She pointed out that in the information she received from the city there is a letter from local developer Harold Oliver of HRM Properties and Development saying he would be willing to renovate the building free of charge.
Oliver writes in the letter that “this project should enhance and encourage educational opportunities; historic preservation and appreciation; tourism and visitor opportunities.”
The application further states that the developers intend to remove an addition to the jail built in the 1960s and develop the remainder of the jail, dating back to 1893, into a “living history museum.” Plans also anticipate an outdoor patio area, a small gift shop, restaurant and large parking area.
Mayor Burd has publicly supported saving the old jail, which was listed as one of the top 10 endangered buildings in the state.
“I got a bridge that I would sell them if they think they can do it for ($360,000),” Martin said. “The day Yorkville decides that they can’t afford to do this and they decide to tear it down to build a parking lot I’m going to say I told you so.”
“If Yorkville is dumb enough to buy this I want to give it to them, but I also don’t want to pay the $5,000 to improve the sewer that we have no part of.”
Bob Davidson
Kendall County Board