(The Daily Herald posted the following story by Denise Perry Donavin on its website on September 9.)
CHICAGO — The project to put a Metra station in Elburn is on schedule for 2005.
Today, a key stop on that journey will take place at the Elburn Planning Commission meeting. The zoning approval necessary for the Metra station and coach yard in Elburn is on the commission’s agenda.
“We are counting on, by the end of 2005, to be running trains out of Elburn if the Elburn plan commission rules on our final plans for the coach yard and preliminary plans for the station,” said Metra spokesman Tom Miller. “We are hoping for a blessing from the plan commission.”
The meeting is at 7 p.m. today at village hall, 301 E. North St., Elburn.
Meeting the 2005 deadline is essential in order to meet federal funding requirements, said Pat McAtee, senior director of planning for Metra. The federal contribution to the $134 million project is $80.762 million.
This summer, Metra started the grading and construction of the third rail that will be part of the Elburn passenger station and coach yard. It was started with the permission of the village and Kane County but without all the zoning and annexation in place.
The Metra station and coach yard are proposed for east of Kansas Street, south of the Union Pacific rail lines and west of the Still Meadows Subdivision.
“We tried to find a middle ground to make all the residents of Elburn happy,” said Plan Commission Chair Pat Schuberg.
She said at tonight’s meeting, “we will review the facts to see how Metra’s plans will interface with our zoning requirements.”
All the land needs to be rezoned. Some of the land is designated residential.
The next step after the planning commission is the village board. Before the annexation and zoning issues come to the village board for approval there will be a public hearing. So it will not happen in September, according to Village Administrator Dave Morrison.
Metra contributions to the village of Elburn are $4.8 million, including sewer upgrades, road construction, parking and burial of utilities.