Dupage Policy Journal

At its Dec. 19 meeting, the city council of Warrenville discussed creating a paved bike path and walking trail on Mack Road. A proposal to put it along the north side of the road is meeting with opposition from residents who spoke during public comment. Several residents suggested putting it on the south side of the road instead.

“Even finances favor the south side,” resident Mitch Adomis said. “The money that it would take to acquire easements and do the grading and the utility move, all of these issues, the destruction of our property. Instead of doing that, you could use that money to extend the trail further east. It would actually be advantageous to take the trail farther east towards the regional trail. So every issue strongly favors orienting the trail on the south side rather than disrupting (the properties of) five private homeowners.”

One of the residents' concerns was safety. They claimed that putting the trail on the south side of Mack Road would be safer as there would only be one crossing on Route 59 as opposed to crossing Route 59, Mack road, and several driveways if it were placed on the north side of the road. The also argued a trail on the south side  would connect more directly to an existing trail network.

Another concern of some of the residents had was the environmental impact. The proposed path would cut into some of the neighbors' private property. One of these homeowners explained to the board that her and her nieghbor’s yards were just short of being considered a nature preserve. They also explained that the north side trail would require cutting multiple mature trees while the south side might only require one.

In other business, council discussed appointing resident Johna Davidson to volunteer for the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Awareness Commission.

The council uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the city’s YouTube channel.

The council will meet again at 7 p.m. on Jan. 16 at 28W701 Stafford Place.