Politics & Government

Plainfield Annexes Land for Oswego District 308's Third High School

Trustee Garrett Peck cast the lone opposition vote, saying he opposed plans to waive "recapture" fees.

The 112 acres on which will be built was annexed into the village of Plainfield Monday night.

In a 5-to-1 vote, the approved the site plan and annexation agreement for the 493,000-square-foot school at the southwest corner of Plainfield and Ridge roads and directed its lawyer to draft special use and annexation ordinances.

Part of the deal calls for the village to waive about $766,000 in “recapture” fees for two full access intersections the district will build to accommodate the traffic generated by as many as 3,000 students, 38 school buses and 1,200 cars. While a private developer would be expected to pay those fees, it’s common that a break be granted to governmental bodies building within the village’s boundaries, village Planner Michael Garrigan said.

Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In exchange for the break, however, there will be benefit for village residents. The district has agreed to allow public access to its synthetic football field and to its 25-meter swimming pool, the latter of which will be part of the school’s second construction phase sometime after 2014.

Trustee Garrett Peck cast the lone “no” vote. While he offered no explanation during the meeting, he said later that he did not agree with waiving the recapture fees.

Find out what's happening in Plainfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

He also said he was bothered by the fact that school district officials present Monday night could not say whether students parking at the school would be paying a fee to do so. If students are forced to pay for parking, they may opt instead to park for free on the streets of the nearby Grande Park subdivision, he said.

Several Grande Park residents also voiced concerns about the new high school, particularly in relationship to the height of the berm along Plainfield Road designed to block the view of the school’s parking lot from the subdivision. A representative for the contractor said that in response to their complaints, they would increase the berm height from three feet to four or five feet and that trees would planted along the top.

Residents also said they were worried that plans for the school might be halted before completion if new school board members are elected in April.

Village trustees said that was something over which they had no control.

“Plainfield has no input on Oswego (school district) politics,” board member Jim Racich said. “We can only discuss annexation, not politics.”

With the site plan and annexation approval in hand, school district officials said they hoped to begin some construction work this summer. The school is to be ready for occupancy at the start of the 2014-15 academic year.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here