The October 22nd, 2024, West-Win (WW) Fall General Meeting was held at the Winfield Township Road District Office located at 30W575 Roosevelt Rd, West Chicago and called to order at 7:00 pm by President Rose Kuntze. A quorum was present.
Rose welcomed attendees and thanked them for their continued support. She also thanked John Dusza and the Winfield Township for hosting the meeting at their facility. Current WW Board members were introduced.
Rose provided attendees with an update regarding the Winfield Road Trail Project that was proposed by the DuPage County Transportation Committee (TC). The project consisted of a new multi-use path on Winfield Road between Mack Road and Roosevelt Road. It was determined by the TC that the best course of action was to conduct traffic studies and not to pursue this project due to safety concerns received from residents at recent TC meetings. Rose suggested a resident advisory committee might be formed to interface with the Transportation Committee during such studies.
Three residents requested to speak to members regarding the Winfield Road Trail project:
The first resident voiced their opinions on why a multi-use path should not be installed along Winfield Road. The main reason being that the path will pose a safety hazard for homeowners, drivers, bikers, and pedestrians. Also, the path would require taking land from resident’s yards.
A second resident voiced their opinion on why the County should proceed with the Winfield Road Trail. Since there already are varying types of sidewalks along Winfield Road in other areas, it was this resident’s stance that adding a path to this section of Winfield Road would be no different and pose no additional safety hazards not already present.
A third resident noted that focusing on a path is focusing on the wrong issue. The County should be working to make Winfield Road and its feeder roads safer before considering any decision regarding a new path.
Rose noted that the County anticipates conducting traffic studies to determine why there is so much traffic being funneled through the West-Win area. Winfield Road is well known to be dangerous. There is no doubt that traffic on this section of Winfield Road has and continues to increase. For the traffic studies to be useful, the feeder roads and intersections of Mack, Purnell, Garys Mill, and Roosevelt Roads also need to be studied. This stretch of Winfield Road is heavily impacted by the feeder roads. The combination of N-S County Farm Road traffic diverting to Winfield Road to get to and from I-88 and Naperville, NM Central DuPage Hospital’s growth, GPS apps diverting traffic in and out of the feeder roads, and new residential developments are all major contributing causes to the problem. Additionally, the fact that these roads are either maintained and/or policed by a combination of state, county, township, and municipal jurisdictions only complicates the matter. She again urged residents to make sure their voices are heard on these issues and asked anyone interested in forming a resident advisory committee to leave their name after the meeting.
Guest speakers were introduced. Update reports were as follows:
John Dusza, the Winfield Township Road Commissioner, updated attendees re:
Repaving has been completed on east Mack Road and Blakewood Court. Striping and re-rolling of shoulder gravel will be completed in the next week.
In 2025 the township is planning to repave the Woods of Cantigny neighborhoods, starting on the south side and working their way north. The plan includes paving Williams Road and forest preserve roads as well. Paving of west Mack Road will not be completed until the bridge project is completed.
Leaf pickup starts Nov. 25th, the Monday before Thanksgiving.
A resident noted concern that a project from earlier this year on Swan Lake Drive has not been completed. John stated he will review with the resident after the meeting to ensure the project’s completion.
Al Murphy, the District 6 DuPage County Forest Preserve Commissioner, provided the following updates:
Al opened with the fact that the DuPage County Forest Preserve owns a total of roughly 26,000 acres, 55% of which is located within the district where WW residents reside.
The Forest Preserve has a referendum on the November 5th ballot: A permanent tax increase of $12 for every $100,000 value of a resident’s home is being proposed. The increase will allow the Forest Preserve to fund maintenance, to purchase more land, and to fund improvement projects.
An attendee asked Al why a proposed bike path on Mack Road is planned for the north side of the road, through private property, instead of on the south side of the road through Forest Preserve property. Al explained that the Mack Road Bridge Replacement project, and associated bike path, is under the City of Warrenville’s jurisdiction and direction. Al also explained that the project is being funded by IDOT and needs to meet IDOT’s standards, which determine the project requirements. Residents voiced several concerns with the project and using private property for the bike path. Rose urged Al to have the Forest Preserve take a larger stance on this issue due to the impact the project will have on residents. She also urged attendees to reach out to Warrenville and Forest Preserve officials to make sure residents’ voices are heard on this issue. It was noted that there is a QR code in the latest WW newsletter that provides contact information for them.
Al also provided an update on the proposed bike path bridge over Roosevelt Road, just east of Route 59. The Forest Preserve has state funding in place and is waiting for the acquisition of one property before proceeding with the project.
Cpl Terri Albright, DuPage County Sheriff’s Dept neighborhood liaison, updated attendees with information related to crime in the area:
Terri started by commending the attendees for caring about their neighborhood and voicing their opinions on local issues.
She then informed attendees that there is a sheriff’s department transparency website where anyone can see recent crime trends in the neighborhood. She used an update from the website to inform attendees that current crime concerns for the area are home invasions and phone scams. Terri advised attendees not to open their doors for anyone they did not request to come to their home. She also urged attendees to contact the Sheriff’s Department if they suspect they have been a victim of a scam.
Chief Steve Evans, of the Winfield Fire Protection District, updated attendees with information related to the fire department:
Steve shared some statistics regarding call volumes, which have been up just over 6% and have mostly been medical calls. The primary causes of fires in the area have been improper disposal of combustibles, cooking, and candles. Steve also provided an update on construction of the new Winfield Fire Station on County Farm Road. The new facility is expected to be operational in Spring 2025. The benefit of the new facility location is that it will help the Fire Department improve response times by using the railroad underpass. The existing downtown Winfield Fire Station is planned to be sold, and the hope is for the proceeds to go towards renovating the dormant fire station at Roosevelt and Winfield Roads.
The Fire Department has used the tax dollars over the last few years to buy two new ambulances, a new fire engine, and a second water tanker truck. The two tanker trucks improve firefighting efforts in the unincorporated community. Steve noted there is currently a national shortage of firefighters which has been posing a big challenge for the fire departments in the area.
Naturalist, Pam Otto, provided a presentation on migrating birds and light pollution:
Pam explained that most bird migrations occur at night since the temperature is cooler, there is usually less wind, the darkness provides protection from predators, and they use the stars to help navigate.
Birds are not used to artificial light below them which causes problems for the birds. The artificial light draws birds to buildings and is responsible for hundreds of bird deaths due to collisions with windows. Too much light below makes it difficult for the birds to see the stars and disorients them. Very bright lights can also confuse the birds and disrupt their circadian rhythm.
Pam noted some things that attendees can do to help with light pollution. Turning off or dimming lights at night, using outdoor fixtures that project light downwards instead of towards the sky, using light bulbs with a warmer color temperature, and raising awareness of the impact that artificial light has on birds will all be beneficial. To learn more about helping with light pollution Pam noted darksky.org as a great resource.
Rose thanked presenters and WW members for coming and noted that West-Win will keep attendees up to date on the issues discussed at the meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 pm.
Tim Van Hiel, Secretary