A Summer's Worth of Bus Terminal Controversy

With only one week until the start of school, the request for a bus terminal to serve Districts 58, 68 and 99 was rejected by the Lisle Village Board Monday night.  

Bus service for District 68 will go on, according to Kevin Wegner, assistant superintendent of business for the district.

The district will continue to use its terminal in Lemont, Wegner said.

The terminal has been a source of contention for some Lisle residents and business owners who live and work near the proposed location for the terminal. 

That contention has caused the request to bounce from the Lisle Planning and Zoning Commission to the Lisle Village Board to the Planning and Zoning Commission and now back to village board again. 

The planning board approved a special use permit for the bus terminal for the second time Aug. 3 by a 4-1 margin. 

The request must be approved by the village board Monday before Westway Bus & Coach, the bus contractor for the three districts, can set up its terminal. 

The three districts decided this year to consolidate their busing services to save costs. The decision will save District 68 $200,000 a year, according to assistant superintendent of business Kevin Wegner. 

A long process

Westway first appeared in front of the PZC in May with mixed reaction from residents and a couple nearby business owners concerning traffic and environmental impacts. Some commissioners questioned the terminal’s potential benefit to the village. They requested a study of current traffic, as well as a list of fleet arrivals and departures.

PZC commissioners reopened the hearing in June to . A few residents alleged the traffic study was flawed because it had been conducted after Benedictine University, Benet Academy and Lisle High School had adjourned for the school year.

McClure said the reopened hearing had not been properly noticed. He also alleged that his proxy at May’s meeting, resident MaryLynn Zajdel, was not given the opportunity to cross-examine petitioners,

A majority of commissioners voted to approve the request, and send it to village trustees. Commissioner Brad Hettich, who voted against the request, felt they should search for a longer-term solution to the property’s vacancy.

Westway will operate a portion of its fleet out of its Villa Park location, in addition to the Lisle terminal. Maintenance on Lisle buses will be performed at an alternative location. Buses would be leaving and returning to the facility from 5:30-7 a.m. and 1-4:30 p.m.

Throughout previous discussions, village staff found the use consistent with the special use request. In memos for the Aug. 3 meeting, staff liken the function to a freight terminal facility.

Another threat of a lawsuit 

The proposal now heads to village trustees, but McClure indicated he will sue the village for pushing through the Westway proposal as a special use, when the supposedly nine-acre development is actually a planned use development requiring noise, environmental, and other studies similar to Navistar hearings of the past.

"I believe this is an illegal hearing," he said.

McClure threatened legal action at a June 14 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, saying that the public hearing was not properly noticed. 

Benish said the village should not tremble at the threat of litigation.

"I just hope the council takes this on, and the zoning committee takes it for what it is, for merit, and not from somebody bullying the council because of a lawsuit," he said.

Property owner Byron Barus said the petitioner planning to locate to his site has done everything they have asked, and that the use is appropriate.

"There are more uses that can be more offensive on so many different levels, and we’re not asking for that," he said. "These guys have bent over backward, it's amazing they still want to be here."

But residents like Ronald Amato fear that they may bend over backward once a new business, complete with blinking lights and sounding horns, moves next door.

"This may not be a big issue to you because you see so many different issues but to residents in the area and businesses, this is a major impact on our livelihood," he said.

Concerns over noise, home values 

The commission's decision to approve the request came after a lengthy public hearing involving cross-examination of the property owner, as well as the petitioner, Westway Bus & Coach.

John Benish Jr., chief operational officer at Westway's parent company Cook-Illinois Corporation, said a school bus yard housing 69 buses would bring jobs and property tax revenue to a long-vacant lot. Bryan Barus, who co-owns the property at 4951 and 4979 Indiana Avenue, said the same.

But neighbors and others in the community expressed concerns regarding traffic safety, environmental impact and deteriorating property values in the area.

"I don't see where this is really a good idea for anyone other than [Westway and Barus]," said Amato, who lives on Indiana Avenue just south of Hitchcock Woods. "It's certainly going to create more noise than there is now and more air pollution than if [the depot] didn't exist."

Amato was also concerned with the value of his home once Westway moves in.

"We’re going to look out our back yard in the winter, when the leaves are off in Hitchcock, and see a sea of yellow buses staring us in the face," he said. "And we’re going to try and tell someone 'wait until the summer comes along, you won’t see 'em' when we try to sell our house."

Benish said that Westway has "always been a good neighbor" in their other Chicagoland locations, including Willow Springs, where their location is "surrounded by multimillion dollar homes."

Still, residents were unimpressed. Local business owner Brian McClure cross-examined the petitioners, who revealed that each morning, bus drivers would have to "pre-trip" their vehicles. That process includes testing lights and horns before departing.

"At 5:15 in the morning we're going to start honking horns on the bus," he said.

McClure then urged the PZC to think about their constituents, and not just a zoning proposal that would contribute jobs and property tax.

"You got to think of everyone, you can't think of yourselves," he said. "You got to think of the people you represent."

Although buses would be staggered every five minutes, other residents were concerned with nearly 70 buses making a left turn off Ogden Avenue onto Indiana Avenue, and left turns from Indiana onto Ogden. Others dismissed a traffic review performed in June.

Yet engineer Thomas Adomshick, who conducted the traffic review, said traffic levels at the proposed site would be acceptable:

"There will not be an excess of traffic issues."