A DuPage County couple this week told Forest Preserve District officials they would never stop fighting the condemnation of a lot on which they recently began building their dream home.
Duane and Tammie Pry said they saved for 15 years for the home they’ve contracted to have built at 7754 Wakefield Lane in Darien. The land is still owned by Gallagher & Henry builders of Countryside, but the Prys broke ground on the house May 1. Six days later, the Forest Preserve District voted to condemn the land, which it wants to use for an access point to adjacent Fox Hollow Forest Preserve.
At a regular Tuesday meeting of the Forest Preserve Commission, an angry Duane Pry questioned why he and his wife were never told about the condemnation before they began laying the foundation for the house.
“We’ve got 15 years of our lives invested in this house,” Pry told the commissioners. “I will not back down, and I will not go away. I intend to keep fighting until I win.”
Commission President Dewey Pierotti said the timing of the condemnation was an unfortunate coincidence and stressed that the district served timely notices to Gallagher & Henry. Any requests for reconsideration would have to come from that firm, Pierotti said.
“We can only deal with the owners on these things, and we haven’t heard from them,” Pierotti said.
No one at Gallagher & Henry could be reached for comment Thursday.
The Prys said they are confident the builders will support them in efforts to stop the condemnation.
The couple also mounted a petition drive Wednesday in the Farmingdale Ridge neighborhood, near Lemont Road and 75th Street.
They’ve already got 66 signatures asking the district to halt condemnation of the lot, Pry said. The couple has canvassed about half the neighborhood, he added, and only three of the residents contacted did not sign the petition.
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Award time: Perhaps it’s a coincidence that when the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference decided to give an innovation award to a DuPage County municipality, it chose Lombard, a village whose mayor now leads the mayors and managers group.
In any event, the conference gave Lombard the 2002 Municipal Innovation Award for a program that seeks to raise residents’ awareness of property maintenance in the village.
Lombard began the voluntary code compliance program in 1998, wherein the village hires seasonal code inspectors to walk the neighborhoods and note any code violations that are observable from the street.
If there are no violations, the employee leaves a “thank you” sign on the doorknob. If a code violation is found, the inspector leaves a notice informing the residents of the code violation and letting them know village staff can help them correct the problem.
The program is considered innovative because the village does not initially cite a property owner for being out of compliance and therefore encourages voluntary compliance, said William Mueller, Lombard’s village president.
“With this program we are looking for the little things,” said Mueller, who was recently elected to lead the conference for the next year. “Of course, if there are life-safety issues, we must take a more aggressive approach. But most residents are completely unaware that they have a violation until we tell them, and then they are usually quite willing to correct it.”