District 186 has agreed to buy land at Eleventh Street and Stevenson Drive for a new school. A building on the property will be a new administrative center.
While the purchase is contingent on the district obtaining a “No Further Remediation” letter from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, that’s not enough for board vice president Micah Miller.
“You can just look at the history,” said Miller. “Anybody that’s occupied this site has had a file with the EPA as they’ve made new discoveries.
“I don’t know why the district would want to incur that kind of liability.”
Allis-Chalmers used to build its heavy equipment on the site.
“There’s been numerous levels of remediation over the last few years,” superintendent Jennifer Gill said after the meeting, “but most recently a third party study done by the owners of the property. H.D. Smith.”
Buffy Lael-Wolf joined Miller in opposing the $1.6 million purchase.