quote:

The Village of Glen Ellyn and the Glen Ellyn Park District are planning on cutting down over 340 trees in the woods at Ackerman Park this spring. This area is between Lenox, Riford and St. Charles roads and is a forest and wetland area.

The land is owned by the Park District, and the Park District is letting the Village use the land for stormwater retention from the 5-corners area. In exchange, the Village is letting the park district build two soccer fields in the woods- clear cutting a heavily wooded area with trees over 24"in diameter. Park district surveys show the slated removal of 344 trees, and the survey lists only trees with a diameter of 6" or more. Countless more small tree and plants will be destroyed.

The Park District has not looked into placing soccer fields in any other locations, just in the woods. They have also failed to complete any kind of facilities usage study to see if their current fields are meeting their needs.

The Village currently has stormwater retention for the 5-corners area in the large drainage ditch they own north of Walgreens. The Village wants to move the stormwater retention to the woods at Ackerman, and sell the current stormwater area to a developer for more retail space. There has been empty retail space in the 5-corners areas for years, but yet the Village would rather have another strip mall than preserve the woods.

This project will cost $467,000 and in the end the residents of Glen Ellyn will end up loosing one of the few remaining tracts of woods in the village.

Please help save the trees of Ackerman Woods. This issue has not been publicized- please forward this e-mail to other Glen Ellyn residents to get the word out.

The next Glen Ellyn Park District board meeting is Tuesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. at the Spring Avenue Recreation Center. Join us there to let the Board know that cutting down woods is not acceptable. Thanks for your help!

I actually saw the "Public Meeting" signage posted there this morning and wondered what it was for. It is rather difficult to read as you are driving by . . . .

Thanks for posting.

I strongly oppose the cutting of mature trees for soccer fields. I would far prefer that trees be cut to build a fieldhouse with an indoor walking path!

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Originally posted by Dinsdale:
I strongly oppose the cutting of mature trees for soccer fields. I would far prefer that trees be cut to build a fieldhouse with an indoor walking path!

Which is about a 1/4 mile from the Great Western Trail.

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Originally posted by Yossarian:
Which is about a 1/4 mile from the Great Western Trail.

Just make sure to pave a nice parking lot so I can drive there to get my exercise!

Soccer fields no, Lacrosse fields YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This reminds me of when everyone was up in arms over the 'destruction' of several trees along Hill during that reconstruction project. These 'huge, beautiful' trees (as the cry went out) were old Silver Maples that had lived past their prime. When they did cut the trees down, all of them were hollow and were a complete hazard. I remember picking up one of the hallowed out sections and using it as an attractive planter for several years.

There really needs to be a survey of these 'woods' to show the quality of the trees on the land. This is why we employ a Village Forester. For all we know, this could be a woodland of Box Elder, Black Locust and Silver Maple trees...hardly the quality trees worth salvaging and wasting energy on.

It's a shame, but it's also mainly scrub trees and mushy lowland back there. Plus, when they filled in some of that area in the late 80's and early 90's the Park District and others used it as a refuse dump. Brush cuttings, wood chips, remodeling debris, etc.

The proposal for soccer fields in that area was decided upon at least 5 years ago. Where have you people been?

If people didn't want the land clear cut and then lit up with Kleig lights they shouldn't have let the GE Park District control it.

This is about as surprising as letting your daughter date a rapist and then being shocked to find out she's been defiled. :| No real surprise as to what the GE Clearcut & Construction District does, and stopping it may very well be impossible. I've seen the Park District reject a signed petition from every home surrounding a park trying to keep something - only to have the PD tell them that they had already decided for them what they really wanted.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jombl,

OK so what did you think was going to happen when they decide to build the indoor soccer facility at Ackerman did you really think they where going to give up some of their outdoor fields. So now you're complaining all I can say you people should have seen it coming . Just like D41 telling you how many more students they're going to have and why they need all those extra administrators etc, etc.

Several area residents were protesting this decison at the Park District Board meeting last night. It seems to be a done deal.

The Park District, School Board , Village meetings are strictly for show . All the decisions are made in advance they just want to give the appearance that they
are listening to you.

I liked the article in the local rag the other day, where the PD is trying valiantly to get a public meeting scheduled before construction begins.

Wouldn't this have to come through Planning and then the Village Board?

Whatever happened to NIMBYism? Do the rich and powerful people of that neighborhood want this? Here in CA you'd have to get an environmental impact study done before you could step on a toadstool. It sometimes delays important development but has also saved natural spaces from destruction.
Also, remember the "Special 8" brouhaha regarding a developer wanting to build by the Prarie Path? I guess it's OK for the Park District, but not for a developer. Or is that not the same thing?

There are no rich and powerful there. Primarialy just a few households with retired folks.

And let's not bring up the whole farce about "glacial kammes" or whatever they called it.

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Originally posted by GE Fan:
Wouldn't this have to come through Planning and then the Village Board?

The paper (which I haven't located on-line) said something like because this did not actually involve construction, they were able to "fast-track" the process somehow and did not need to have public meetings.

It described creating a retention area and soccer fields at Ackerman as tied in with the village filling in and selling the retention area near the 5-corners Walgreens. Apparently they expect to get enough from that sale to pay for cutting down these trees.

The impression I got was almost, "Gee, we didn't think anyone would notice/care!" And they made it pretty clear that they intended to let a contract on the work before any meeting, so this isn't really pretending to get any public input - just letting you know what is gonna happen whether you want it or not.

Does anyone have kids who play soccer? Are the fields really overcrowded? During how much of the week? Because neither I nor anyone in my family plays, and everytime I ride my bike past/through Ackerman - including weekend afternoons - the place is deserted.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tony Rio:
There are no rich and powerful there. Primarialy just a few households with retired folks.


There are no rich people living on Lenox or Riford? Man, things have sure changed since I moved out here.

quote:

Originally posted by Dinsdale:

quote:

Originally posted by GE Fan:
Wouldn't this have to come through Planning and then the Village Board?

The paper (which I haven't located on-line) said something like because this did not actually involve construction, they were able to "fast-track" the process somehow and did not need to have public meetings.

It described creating a retention area and soccer fields at Ackerman as tied in with the village filling in and selling the retention area near the 5-corners Walgreens. Apparently they expect to get enough from that sale to pay for cutting down these trees.

The impression I got was almost, "Gee, we didn't think anyone would notice/care!" And they made it pretty clear that they intended to let a contract on the work before any meeting, so this isn't really pretending to get any public input - just letting you know what is gonna happen whether you want it or not.

Does anyone have kids who play soccer? Are the fields really overcrowded? During how much of the week? Because neither I nor anyone in my family plays, and everytime I ride my bike past/through Ackerman - including weekend afternoons - the place is deserted.

I can tell you that the soccer fields in Glen Ellyn are INCREDIBLY overcrowded. Between the two travel clubs (Lakers & Raiders) and the Park District in-house programs, scheduling games and practices is a nightmare due to field availability. Some of the travel games end up being played on fields at Village Green, COD, Glencrest Middle School, or Westfield Elementary, which are often in terrible condition. I spent a morning prior to a scheduled travel game, filling holes on a field at Village Green. Another time I was dumping sand into a large area on a field to soak up standing water. Some of the fields are in such poor condition that it often creates a hazard for the players.

There are two seasons for soccer: Spring & Fall. Travel teams play both seasons and in-house soccer has both Fall & Spring programs. Basically, from April-early June and again from August-early November, the soccer fields are overcrowded. Travel games are played on Sundays. The field coordinator has to try to fit all Lakers & Raiders home games into a very limited amount fields. The clubs have boys and girls teams from U8 thru U17. That is a lot of teams to coordinate fields for. Then you have cases where a game needs to be rescheduled for one reason or another...and it happens a lot. In those cases, the field assignor has to find available space/time on a Saturday, or weeknight (allowing time for the out-of-town team to travel to Glen Ellyn after school, so usually 5:30-6:00ish or later). The field assignor has to work around the in-house games, which are played on Saturdays, or in-house practices, which are scheduled every night through the week. Keep in mind that the field size changes based on the age group...so it's not a matter of just finding any open field. I dread getting a phone call requesting a game change as I know that the availability of the fields will be very limited and there is a good chance we will end up playing on a field other than Ackerman...most likely Village Green, which is often in horrible condition. I can't imagine how the field assignor handles it all.

Anyway, there is no question that Glen Ellyn needs additional soccer fields...and not just 1 or 2.