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Monday, March 31, 2014
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Sycamore Neighbors concerned Park District about sober house plan buys land for new facilities DeKALB COUNTY BOARD TO DISCUSS HOME PURCHASE
By STEPHEN HABERKORN
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Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Sycamore resident Carolyne Schoen (left) pushes her 10-month-old daughter Olivia Schoen in a stroller Wednesday afternoon while son Nathan Schoen, 4, rides his bicycle in front of the site of a proposed sober living home. DeKalb County is considering purchasing the home and turning it into a sober house. The house is along the route the Schoen family typically uses for bike rides in their neighborhood.
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By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Carolyn Schoen is worried her children won’t be able to ride their bikes on the only block near their home with sidewalk all the way around it. Schoen and many of her neighbors are concerned about the proposed sober house at 303 Exchange St. for drug court participants in DeKalb County. The DeKalb County Board has not finalized the purchase, and it will be discussed at a meeting of the board’s Law and Justice Committee at 6:30 p.m. today in the county Administration Building, 110 E. Sycamore St., Sycamore. The ordinance authorizing the purchase of the house for $146,000 was sent back to committee after about 20 neighbors appeared at the most recent County Board meeting March 19 to protest the purchase. Schoen wasn’t able to attend the meeting but said
n What: DeKalb County Board Law and Justice Committee meeting n When: 6:30 p.m. today n Where: DeKalb County Administration Building, 110 E. Sycamore St., Sycamore
n What: An Evening with the Park District, an event to kick off fundraising for the Vision 2020 plan n When: 5 to 7 p.m. April 11 n Where: DeKalb County Community Foundation building, 475 DeKalb Ave., Sycamore n Information: Call the park district at 815-895-3201 or visit www.sycamoreparkdistrict.com.
Sycamore Park District officials announced their purchase of 25 acres of land across from the sports complex on Airport Road at a news conference Saturday afternoon. The land acquisition was the next step in the Vision 2020 plan to expand the park district’s amenities in the next five years. The plan used surveys, public meetings and a strategic planning team to come up with seven key facilities for construction and improvements. At least four of those – a new community center, dog park, splash pad and sledding hill – will be on the new site. “Many of the things [the community wanted] they were actually leaving the area to go and enjoy because we didn’t offer them here,” Park Board Vice President Michelle Schulz said. “So based on that list, there was a need for the space. And we looked at a whole variety of different options and realized that this made the most sense.” The new site was selected because it is across the street from the Sycamore Commu-
nity Park Sports Complex, which will group all key facilities in a single campus, and because it is not in a flood plain. “I think 80 percent of the property across the street is under flood plain,” said park Commissioner Bill Kroeger. “In the springtime when we have the heavy rains, a lot of the ball diamonds and soccer fields are under water. The [Department of Natural Resources] will not allow us to make any improvements … so we basically have to get out of the property.” The new property was purchased a couple of weeks ago for $450,000 from the Ernie Carls family through
See SYCAMORE, page A3
Voice your opinion Do you support DeKalb County running a sober living house for drug court participants in Schoen dresses Olivia in her snowsuit on their living room couch Sycamore? Vote online at DailyWednesday afternoon before going on a walk with her two older Chronicle.com. children. The Schoens live about a block away from the house DeKalb County is considering buying as a sober house for the county’s drug court. details have been provided.” she walks that block with her three children, ages 7, 4 and 10 months. “We’ve become friendly with a lot of the neighbors,” Schoen said. “We live a couple of blocks away, but that is the only block in the neighborhood with sidewalks all the way around, making it a safe place for my
Many of the neighbors concede that a facility to aid recovery is needed – they just don’t like the location. “We’re not against having a drug-rehab facility,” said Hazel Retherford, who lives on Sycamore Street. “We just don’t want it in this residential neighborhood.”
kids to ride their bikes.” Larry Bingham, who lives nearby on Sycamore Street, expressed his concerns at the meeting. “This is an old neighborhood with many children,” Bingham told the board. “There are children playing outside, couples walking. We’re concerned because no
See HOUSE, page A3
Photo provided by Dan Gibble, Sycamore Park District executive director
Sycamore Park District Board member Daryl Graves (from left), board member and Treasurer Ann Tucker, district Community-Wide Strategic Planning Team member Ed Kuhn, district Citizens’ Advisory Committee member Margaret Basset, district board Vice President Michelle Schulz, district Board member Bill Kroeger and district Citizens’ Advisory Committee member Denny Lane stand in front of a sign Saturday on 25 acres of land across from the sports complex on Airport Road that the park district purchased to expand facilities.
DeKalb parks’ search for executive director gains momentum By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A new executive director for the DeKalb Park District could be selected in May and in place by July, ending more than a year of operating without a permanent leader. DeKalb Park District commissioners will conduct two rounds of interviews in April before making a final selection in May, said Keith Frankland, a senior associate with Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates,
the firm leading the search. Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates has been advertising for the position nationally since February after the board approved a $110,000 to $120,000 salary range and desired characteristics for the new director. The four-member search team has been screening applicants with the board’s criteria in order to narrow the field to five candidates. “In the end, the board has to choose the one whose personality fits the community,” Frankland said.
The search firm will present those five candidates to the board April 9, Frankland said. Commissioners will interview the candidates April 25 and 26 to pare the pool down to three candidates. The three candidates commissionPhil Young ers choose to move forward Park Board will each be president put through a second interview consisting of more in-depth questions short-
ly after. The board is looking for someone with good communication and financial skills, Park Board President Phil Young said. He added although experience with large projects akin to the renovation of Hopkins Pool will be considered, the ideal candidate would be a person who would build good relationships. “We need to have someone there who is going in the same direction as we are,” Young said. “What it’s really going to come down to is how they can
work and make our park district relevant for the next 20 to 30 years.” A final decision on who to hire to fill the executive director position will be made during the board’s meeting May 8, Young said. An early May hire would put the executive director’s first day on the job in June or July, Frankland said, meaning the park district will have operated for more than a year without a permanent director. Former director Cindy Capek resigned in June, although
her last day with the park district was in May. The board hired the search firm in November. Assistant Director Lisa Wells Small was acting as interim director until Jan. 29, when the board hired Ray Ochromowicz of St. Charles to serve as the part-time interim director. “I think we’re accelerating here,” Young said. “One of the most important decisions any board can make is to pick their executive director. It’s not something we should have rushed through.”
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