Discussions about constructing a possible roundabout at the intersection of Normal and Dresser roads in DeKalb are preliminary, DeKalb city attorney Matt Rose said.

Rose spoke to Shaw Local News Network after the topic first surfaced at a recent DeKalb School District 428 Board meeting. No DeKalb City Council action has been taken to authorize the roundabout’s construction.

Rose said talks of the potential roundabout are in the early stages.

“We’re not there yet because there’s no actual design,” Rose said. “If there’s an initial design plan that we agree upon that we’re going to go forward with, that will be shared with the school district. It will be shared with the public.”

Of the land potentially in question is a FFA plot that is owned by District 428. School officials have not yet decided whether they will move forward with plans to use the property to build a new early learning development center for preschool and kindergarten students.

DeKalb school board President Chris Boyes said the district has remained active in discussions with the city over its proposed plans.

“The city is revising, working on new plans,” Boyes said. “The district has no position [on] things at this point in time because there’s nothing for us to have a position on while the city continues to work on their plan.”

Rose said the city has retained consulting engineers for the potential project.

The city is in the process of examining design options, but nothing is set in stone, officials said.

Rose said the city could be interested in pursuing federal aid to help pay for the construction of a roundabout if the City Council moves forward with a plan.

“I don’t know what the time frame is for that except that I do know that there’s federal grant money for this, and that has a time frame on it,” Rose said.

Rose added that the city hasn’t imposed any deadlines on the district.

It remains unclear what effect, if any, the proposed roundabout would have on the district.

“These are very preliminary discussions,” Boyes said. “The city would still need to work on graphs and everything to figure out exactly what they’re going to do.”

If built, the proposed roundabout would make for the latest in what DeKalb city officials have said are ways to mitigate pedestrian harm and control traffic flow. Other roundabouts include near the DeKalb Meta Data Center. Another just opened this month at Lucinda Avenue and Normal Road on the Northern Illinois University campus.

A proposed roundabout near the intersection of Sycamore Road and North First Street also has been talked about at the city level, although no plans have been finalized for that either. Roundabout debates surfaced during campaign season for many elected officials in the spring.

Rose said the city looks forward to working collaboratively with the district.

“In the interest of full cooperation, we wanted to tell the school district at the earliest opportunity about this,” Rose said.