Batavia seeks vision for Fox River shoreline

BATAVIA – City and park district officials are cooperating to create a vision and an action plan for Batavia’s Fox River shoreline.

The Batavia City Council and the Batavia Park Board met in a special session on April 20 to discuss a coordinated strategy for improving and managing Batavia’s riverfront.

The city and the park district last year each committed $75,000 to commission Hitchcock Design Group of Naperville to study the Batavia river corridor and develop the master plan.

While the plan would almost certainly include removal of the Challenge Dam and an engineering project to preserve Depot Pond, the scope of work would be far more wide-ranging.

“The river is an economic engine that we haven’t been utilizing,” First Ward Alderman Michael O’Brien said.

Park board member John Tilmon said the master plan needs be more than simply a vision, but “a real action plan with dates attached and tangible results.”

The fate of the dam and the pond must be determined and communicated to residents, park board member Kevin Riley said.

“We need to giver the community a good answer before we move forward,” Riley said.

“This needs to be an overall view of the river as a whole,” 2nd Ward Alderman Alan Wolff said. “The biggest thing has to be community buy-in.”

First Ward Alderman Jennifer Baerren said the key will be the desires and expectations of Batavia citizens.

“How we get there is by listening to the residents,” Baerren said.

Fifth Ward Alderman Mark Uher said removal of the dam will improve the river ecology. He noted that removal of the dam and saving Depot Pond are connected.

Fourth Ward Alderman Tony Malay agreed, asserted that preserving the pond will be a major engineering feat.

Well over a century old, the Challenge Dam is slowly deteriorating, threatening to reduce the water depths in the pond.

The dam extends from the tip of the peninsula north of Batavia City Hall across the main river channel to the east bank at the Challenge Building.

On the west side of the peninsula is Depot Pond, presenting a scenic view for visitors to the Batavia Riverwalk, which is the top destination for users of park facilities in the community.

While the Illinois Department of Natural Resources may be expected to pay for removal of the dam, it will fall to the city and park district to pay for the project to preserve the pond.

The plan would be to construct an earthen berm extending north from the tip of the peninsula to connect with Duck Island and then curve northwest to meet with the west bank of the river, closing off the pond. Pumps would need to be installed to maintain water levels and flow.

A study performed in 2003 concluded that it would cost $12 million to enclose the pond and install a pump system to maintain the water levels.

The Hitchcock plan is expected to be completed in the fall of this year. The firm is conducting a community survey to gauge public opinion.