With the United States\u2019 250th birthday less than two months away, one part of Kane County\u2019s celebration still remains undecided: where the county will put an elm tree and a plaque recognizing several Revolutionary War patriots buried in the county, donated by the local Daughters of the American Revolution.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, at its monthly meeting, the Kane County Board shot down a proposal to build a \u201cDeclaration Square\u201d in honor of America\u2019s 250th behind the county courthouse site in Geneva, leaving the tree and plaque still without a permanent home in the county.<\/p>\n
The county accepted<\/a> the historical marker and \u201cLiberty Tree\u201d from the Elias Kent Kane Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, meant to celebrate the United States\u2019 250th birthday, in November.<\/p>\n Since then, however, the project has generated some concern<\/a> among board members in relation to its planned location and potential cost.<\/p>\n When the donation was accepted, the proposed location for the historical marker and tree \u2014 an American elm which was grown from seed since last spring \u2014 was<\/a> the Kane County Courthouse at 100 S. Third St. in Geneva.<\/p>\n The area in front of the courthouse building along Third Street had originally been considered<\/a>, but it was decided the abundance of trees there would make for difficult growing conditions for the sapling. From there, the county landed on<\/a> a spot in the middle of the parking lot behind the courthouse, proposing a central square be made around the tree in that location.<\/p>\n But that site \u2014 along with the possible costs \u2014 have prompted<\/a> pushback from the board since.<\/p>\n In April, following some board discussion, a vote on an official measure recommending a concept plan and budget estimate for the square was tabled<\/a> until May.<\/p>\n And with the United States\u2019 250th coming up in July, the county is under some time pressure to make plans for the commemorative tree and plaque.<\/p>\n As of last month, the county was aiming<\/a> to have a groundbreaking or ceremonial event for the square and tree in July as part of the 250th anniversary festivities, with plans to start construction after and complete the project in 2028.<\/p>\n But now, its fate is uncertain.<\/p>\n The proposal that came to the full board on Tuesday was<\/a> again for the square to sit in the parking lot median of the courthouse, with plans for architecture and engineering firm Wight & Company to donate its services and create the concept plan for the site. The county would be responsible for<\/a> working out site preparation and cement work.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to cost you no money,\u201d Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog said towards the end of a nearly six-hour meeting Tuesday, which largely revolved around budgetary matters. \u201cEveryone just take a breath.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Pierog, the proposed budget for the project is around $500,000 \u2014 with half of that planned to be paid for via fundraising, and half via in-kind contributions from contractors.<\/p>\n Under consideration Tuesday was approval of the location and site plan for the project, so that the county can begin its fundraising efforts.<\/p>\n But the board was unable to reach consensus about the location or plans for the proposed square.<\/p>\n Reiterating her disapproval of the planned site, board member Michelle Gumz noted that the board has considered the proposal multiple times, but still hasn\u2019t approved it.<\/p>\n Cost and county staff time also came up as concerns.<\/p>\n Board member Jarett Sanchez, for example, asked how much staff time will be spent on the project, to which Pierog said staff will be working with the contractors for the project to make sure it\u2019s done in line with county code and standards.<\/p>\n Board member Jon Gripe, noting that the original approval was only for the tree and plaque, said he estimated the project could cost around $1 million, whether that\u2019s paid for by the county or not.<\/p>\n And some effort has already been expended, he said, pointing out that meetings have already been going on with county staff about the project.<\/p>\n \u201cMoney has been spent, money\u2019s going to be spent,\u201d Gripe said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying it wouldn\u2019t be worth it, but I think the board deserves the opportunity to see a budget, what exactly is the county going to have to pay for.\u201d<\/p>\n As a solution, Gripe suggested the tree could be planted somewhere temporarily and then transported to the proposed site or another location in the future.<\/p>\n But Tuesday\u2019s discussion ultimately ended with the site plan getting voted down by the board. Noting that planting the tree at the courthouse was the Daughters of the American Revolution\u2019s requested site, Pierog said the county will now have to meet with the group about the board\u2019s decision to vote down the courthouse proposal.<\/p>\n The Elias Kent Kane Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution said, in a statement to The Beacon-News on Wednesday, that it \u201crespects the County Board\u2019s decision\u201d regarding the site plan on Tuesday, and remain \u201ccommitted to working collaboratively with the county to identify an appropriate and meaningful location for the tree and marker.\u201d<\/p>\n The local chapter said it is open to alternative county sites, so long as the location \u201ccontinues to uphold the historical intent of the project and ensures public visibility and educational value.\u201d<\/p>\n mmorrow@chicagotribune.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the United States\u2019 250th birthday less than two months away, one part of Kane County\u2019s celebration still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[10673,65,19706,898,35643],"class_list":["post-65379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-americas-250th-anniversary","tag-geneva","tag-kane-county-board","tag-kane-county","tag-semiquincentennial"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116573944497694048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}