The Elburn Village Board and Metra last week agreed to pay nearly half again as much as expected to build a train station near downtown Elburn. But one village trustee maintains the original estimate was never more than a “ballpark figure.”
“The original numbers were never hard and fast because Metra has never built anything like this before,” said Trustee Jeff Metcalf.
“We decided we wanted a little more, and it turns out this is how much it will cost.”
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Bids for the 400-square-foot Prairie-style station came in at nearly $582,000–about $181,500 more than the original estimate of $400,480. Metra will pay $100,000 of the cost increase, leaving Elburn to cover the remaining increase, said village President James Willey.
The village’s $315,000 revised total tab for the station will come from transportation impact fees from the Blackberry Creek subdivision, not from property or sales tax revenues, Metcalf added.
“I have no problem with it, because we’ll be getting that money back [from developers seeking to build in the booming village],” Metcalf said. “We need something more than a warming shelter to support future development around the station that we haven’t even come close yet to designing.”
Commuter train service is expected to start in Elburn in January, with construction of the station slated to start next spring. Metra will provide a temporary warming shelter until the station is completed.