In 2021, Naperville emerged from its 2020 pandemic cocoon and life started returning to normal.
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Kids headed back to their classrooms, governmental bodies started meeting in person, and restaurants and businesses opened to full capacity, bringing Naperville’s tax revenues back to pre-COVID-19 levels.
But that’s not to say it wasn’t also an ongoing COVID roller coaster ride. Vaccinations and booster shots became available, anti-vax and anti-mask protests were launched, and record-setting resurgences occurred this fall and winter.
It’s easily one of the top 10 stories in Naperville in 2021, as determined by the Naperville Sun staff, which we present here:
Naperville and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic continued its unprecedented impact on the lives and operations of practically everything in 2021.
Most COVID restrictions were lifted in the summer but that was a short-lived reprieve as case counts increased with the emergence of the virus’ delta variant. The December resurgence, tied in part to the emergence of the omicron variant, saw the number of active cases in the Naperville area rise 90% from Dec. 21 to Dec. 28.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the full vaccination rates among Naperville ZIP codes ranges from 65% to 87%.
Tornado hits Naperville
A rare EF-3 tornado tore through Naperville south of 75th Street on the night of June 20, damaging hundreds of homes and downing trees as it traveled east into Woodridge and Darien. No fatalities were reported but there were injuries resulting from the twister, the first EF-2 or stronger tornado in the Chicago area since 2015.
The Princeton Circle and Ranchview Drive neighborhoods were hit the hardest, with one home leveled and others significantly damaged. But several were spared almost completely, one the jarring things that can occur during the weather phenomenon.
Changes in leadership
Voters in April elected the first Asian Americans to serve on the Naperville City Council: Ian Holzhauer and Paul Leong.
The two joined fellow newcomer Jennifer Bruzan Taylor and Benny White, the city’s first Black councilman, who was reelected to a second term. Councilman John Krummen failed to garner the votes for a third term.
The Naperville Park Board switched from having one woman, Marie Todd, to having a 5-2 female majority with the election of newcomers Mary Gibson, Leslie Ruffing, Alison Thompson and Rhonda Ansier.
City Gate, Nokia developments
Two new housing developments on the northern corners of the city will not only add to the city’s housing stock but also produce some new affordable options.
In April, the City Council gave the go-ahead for Naper Commons, 66 town homes and 161 single-family detached houses to be built at Naperville and Warrenville roads on land Nokia sold to Pulte Homes.
While the housing development falls short of meeting affordable fair housing standards, it will at least provide homes that fall into the “attainable” housing category, some council members noted.
A month later, the $200 million, 60-acre City Gate West complex at the northwest corner of route 59 and Interstate — a development that will have retail business, restaurants, medical offices, apartments and two hotels — won council approval.
The developer has agreed to include micro and studio units in the apartment plans, which should result in lower monthly rents that meet the city’s attainable/affordable housing initiative criteria.
1972 murder arrest made
Naperville police investigators used DNA evidence and genealogy to identify and charge a former Naperville man in the 1972 stabbing death of 15-year-old Julie Ann Hanson. Police Chief Robert Marshall called the resolution of a “brutal crime” that has haunted the community.
Barry Lee Whelpley, 76, was arrested at his Minnesota home in June and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. His next court date is scheduled for Jan. 4.
Hanson disappeared July 7, 1972, while riding her brother’s bicycle and her body found a day later in a ditch along 87th Street, east of Modaff Road in Will County. The teenager had been stabbed 36 times and sexually assaulted.
Police leadership change
A month after the Whelpley arrest, Marshall stepped down as police chief after a 44-year city career — 37 years with the police department and seven in the city manager’s office.
Marshall joined the department in 1977 as a police officer and moved up the ranks, retiring as a captain in 2005. After a seven-year stint as assistant city manager and city manager pro tem, he was named chief in 2012.
His successor was Jason Arres, who began his Naperville police career as a patrol officer in 2001.
Over the years Arres has worked as an undercover detective in special enforcement, a detective in the intelligence unit and a member of the special response team. In 2017, he was promoted to deputy chief, during which time he led the investigations and patrol divisions and oversaw city’s dispatch center.
Mosque coming to 248th Avenue
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An 11th-hour compromise between the Islamic Center of Naperville and residents who live near the center’s south side property cleared the way in November for unanimous City Council approval of a mosque complex on 248th Avenue.
Construction will be done in phases, with a worship area, school, gym and multipurpose room planned.
The nearly yearlong approval process was arduous at times, with unprecedented public participation during Planning and Zoning Commission review, including 2,000 names in support or opposition, 770 written comments and more than 500 people signed up to speak.
D203 teacher contract/D204 boundary changes
It took months of sometimes contentious negotiations, a strike authorization vote and the need for a federal negotiator, but a new four-year contract between Naperville School District 203 and the Naperville Unit Education Association was approved in September.
The deal calls for 3.6% and 2.9% pay raises in the first two years, longevity payments, expanded family leave time and a one-time $1,000 “appreciation” bonus.
Neighboring Indian Prairie School District 204 tackled a wholly different problem — redrawing boundary lines for its 30-plus schools to relieve overcrowding at some schools, increase capacity at others and prepare for shifts expected with falling enrollment numbers.
The proposed map took months of committee meetings and revisions, and eliminated one of the biggest bones of contentions — closing schools. But not all residents like the end result, which the school board is expected to approve Jan. 10.
DuPage County auditor recount
Nearly a year after the November 2020 election for the DuPage County auditor’s job, during which partial and full vote recounts were done, it would appear Democrat Bill White remains the rightful winner by a margin of 58 votes.
Incumbent Auditor Bob Grogan challenged the results when the initial count showed just a 75-vote difference between the two men and some ballot problems noted. A DuPage County judge granted Grogan’s request for a full recount, resulting in the slimmer divide.
The case is still pending in court, and Grogan has said he plans to appeal the outcome.
Naperville men killed at Astroworld
Two Naperville college students, best friends who graduated from Neuqua Valley High School, were among the 10 people who died Nov. 5 while attending the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston.
Franco Patino, 21, a senior at the University of Dayton in Ohio, and Jacob “Jake” Jurinek, 20, a junior at Southern Illinois University, were at the fest to celebrate Patino’s 21st birthday. A crowd surge during rapper Travis Scott’s show resulted in people being crushed and suffocated, officials said.
The families of the two men have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Scott, entertainment company Live Nation and others affiliated with the Astroworld event.