Geneva thinking ‘industrial’ for southeastern corner

The Geneva city council is expected to decide Monday if it will hire a consultant to study what’s needed to build industrial businesses near the city’s southeast corner.

The city proposes to hire Wills Burke Kelsey Associates to look at more than 481 acres of unincorporated land in an area bounded by Route 38, Kirk Road, Fabyan Parkway and the Kane-DuPage county line. Most of it lies within Geneva’s planning area, according to boundary agreements it has with West Chicago and Batavia. The study will cost about $40,000, with half of that paid for by a Kane County Small Cities grant.

The idea, according to economic development Director Ellen Divita, is to “get us one step closer to development by taking out some of the guesswork” on what the topography is, what it would cost to extend city utilities to the area, whether there are hazards on the land and other engineering-type issues.

About 150 of the acres were recently foreclosed on, and the banks involved “are selling it at a very realistic price,” she said.

Divita told the council committee of the whole this week that when she took the Geneva job three years ago, “I was surprised by the lack of industrial” sites. About 74 percent of the city’s equalized assessed valuation comes from residential properties, she said, and it typically costs more to provide city services to residences than to industrial and commercial sites. This area is the last large area remaining for light industrial and commercial development, she said.

The city has planned to do this study since 2007, but delayed it as it cut its budget due to the recession.

The council will formally vote on the measure at 7 p.m. Monday.