By JEFFERY D. SCHIELKE
ENRICO FERMI — chances are that few of the citizens of Batavia ever heard of him before December 16, 1966. But the townspeople learned something about this famous nuclear physicist on that date when the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) announced that it would build an accelerator laboratory named after him on a large parcel of land just east of their city. The community reaction was generally favorable, but the prospect of having an atom smasher nearby also raised some fears in the small town. Batavians recognized that a massive federal project like Fermilab would bolster the area economy, but they were concerned that the impact of the world's largest research instrument of high energy physics might alter the peaceful tempo of life in their community and throughout the Fox River area.
The townspeople read in the weekly Herald and the daily Beacon-News that "the scientific prize of the century" was to be built on a 6,800-acre tract of land along the DuPage-Kane county line. They also saw official pronouncements of enormous growth for the rural area surrounding the lab site. Headlines spoke of the accelerator in lavish terms as "the big prize" and a "great boost for Illinois." Historically, the idea of rapid growth has not set well with the majority of Batavians. Citizens of the city (population 11,000) have long accepted the idea that their community was well served by its separation from the urban sprawl which has slowly been moving westward from Chicago. Surrounded by cornfields, forest preserves, the Loyal Order of the Moose "child city" known as Mooseheart and several correctional institutions, residents will argue when someone dares label Batavia a "suburb."
The founding father of the city was an explorer named Christopher Columbus Payne, who came to the area in 1833. Proud of its history, Batavia has long held a social and political philosophy which is genuinely conservative. With many of its families united by marriage, friendship and local traditions, the tightly knit populace has always looked carefully at any idea or event which deviates from the norm. It was into this climate of conservatism and civic pride that the AEC brought "the big prize."
After the announcement, local officials put themselves on guard. Acting on the recommendation of its own planning commission, the city council placed an eight-month moratorium on all zoning in Batavia to allow completion of a new comprehensive citywide plan. The advent of Fermilab was used to support the town's application for federal funds to pay for the plan, and this fact was cited as the first sign of the accelerator's effects. There would be other "effects," but the official groundbreaking at the site on December 1, 1968, went well with Batavia officials among the honored guests.
Boundary arguments
The first real clash between Batavia
and lab officials concerned the actual
boundaries of the site. Under the
leadership of then Mayor Arthur Swanson, Batavia sought to have the western
boundary of the lab set along a line east
of a fast-developing residential subdivision known as Woodland Hills and a
large tract of undeveloped industrial
land. The city had recently extended
several utilities to the area, including a
500,000-gallon elevated water tank and
electrical and sewage substations. Two
industrial firms had already located
plants in the area and there was a promise of more to come. After some initial
fear that the lab would try to come into
Batavia's municipal boundary, an
agreement was reached which set the
line along the route suggested by the
September 1976 / Illinois Issues / 17
city. But a small parcel of undeveloped land in the Woodland Hills area was taken by the lab, and complaints echoed that Batavia's taxable land was reduced. Roughly 22 per cent of the fire protection district and approximately one-fifth of the local school district were taken off assessment rolls when they were incorporated within the lab site's boundaries.
Real estate ordinance
A rallying point for opponents to the
proposal came January 3, 1968, with an
appearance at a public hearing on the
ordinance by Dr. Robert Wilson, the
newly appointed lab director. Wilson
urged passage of the ordinance and said
such legislation was important to
Fermilab. His comments were not
received well by those citizens who
disliked the ordinance and said, in
effect: "Let us decide our own fate. We
can handle our affairs without help from
Washington or anyone from the outside." The first attempt to pass the
measure failed, but six months later
when public attention relaxed, a second
attempt was successful. Since adopting the ordinance, Batavia has never once had to resort to the
legal procedures provided by the ordinance, and nearly every neighborhood
has welcomed minority families with
little difficulty. Few minority families
have, however, come to town as a result
of the Fermilab.
The loudest cries of encroachment
into local affairs by the lab came in
January 1968 when Batavia's city
council considered what the Chicago
Sun-Times termed "one of the strongest
open occupancy ordinances ever proposed in the state." As presented, the
ordinance covered all real estate transactions, including the sale by an individual of his own property. Recommendations included in the ordinance had come from the city's own Human
Relations Commission headed by then
Police Chief Charles Marshall. When
city fathers debated the proposal, over
300 citizens attempted to jam into the
small council chambers to take part in
the discussion.
Water rights
There was also spirited discussion
concerning a state agreement which
allows the lab to withdraw water from
the Fox River for cooling at the site.
After lengthy negotiations directed by
Mayor Robert Brown, who had succeeded Swanson in 1969, the city agreed
to allow the lab to build a small pumping station on city property along the
river. The lab assured the community
that water would be taken from the river
only when the water level was high
enough to allow a withdrawal without
adverse effects. In exchange for the
pumping site, the city received a 99-year
lease on a corner of the lab property and
the option of building a fire station
there.
The use of the area's water resources
was another point on which Batavia and
its new neighbor had disagreement. The
city questioned the lab's intentions when
drilling was started to tap into the domestic water table of the area.
Officials feared that domestic water
resources would be endangered if they
were used for cooling purposes at the
lab. Officials at Fermilab pledged that
the well water would be used only in
"extreme emergencies," and, so far, it
appears that the lab is keeping its
promise.
Local highway projects
Rearrangement of the local highway
network was another bone of contention. When it was announced that East
Wilson Street Road, the principal route
leading east from Batavia, was to be
closed because it ran through the middle
of the lab construction area, citizens
objected that it would take a map and
compass to find Batavia. A multi-million dollar state highway improvement project on the road network surrounding the lab quickly helped to eliminate complaints. Wilson Street was
eventually limited to lab traffic, but it
was replaced by an improved road two
miles to the north. Known as Fabyan
Parkway, the new eastern passage from
Batavia provides direct access to Route
38 and West Chicago. A second highway project undertaken was the widening and extension of Kirk Road along
Batavia's eastern boundary. Finally,
Illinois Routes 25 and 31, which run a
north-south course through Batavia,
were resurfaced. Philip B. Elfstrom,
chairman of the Kane County Board
and Batavia's own elected representative to that body, recalls being present at
a meeting hosted by then Gov. Richard
B. Ogilvie in Springfield when the road
improvement work was reviewed. "It
was one of the most memorable meeting I've ever attended — to sit in the
governor's office and reach that kind of
progress to benefit our area," Elfstrom
said recently when discussing some of
the positive impact that the lab has had
on the area.
| Removal of taxable lands from local assessment rolls because of the lab has not been as costly as expected. Batavia's School District 101 receives financial aid from the federal government under a program which compensates schools for the new students who move in when a new federal installation is established in a school district. Under provisions of the law (Public Law 874), if a district can show that three per cent of its student enrollment can be attributed to parents employed by the federal government, a |
|
subsidy for the impact is provided. With the arrival of families associated with the lab, plus Batavia's proximity to the Federal Aviation Administration Air Control Center at Aurora and other nearby federal installations, District 101 qualified easily for a subsidy. In 1974 the district received $18,013 in federal impact aid.
On May 12, 1974, some eight years after the first announcement, the lab was officially dedicated and is now fully operational. Except for a twin-towered, 16-story office building, the view of the site from Batavia is the same rural landscape which residents knew before they ever heard of the Fermilab.
Batavia's growth pattern
City Engineer William Boyd and
Alderman James Hanson (who was
chairman of the city council's subcommittee on planning and zoning during
the entire lab construction period) both
say that control of growth has been the
major benefit derived from Fermilab.
Boyd believes that the lab has not only
helped to stabilize the city's growth
pattern, but has helped to prevent a
drain on the area water supply and
eliminated the traffic problems which
residential or business development
usually brings. Hanson suggests that the
site would have been a prime area for development and that the consequent
requests for annexation to the city
would have placed a heavy burden on
public services. He says there is now
more utility capacity in the lab area than
will be needed because the lab took over
much of the anticipated development
land. "The accelerator," Hanson says,
"failed to produce much of the development which some thought might occur
when it was located here. No one really
knew, of course, just how much growth
would take place, but I am sure what has
come has been a lot less than many
people expected." Hanson recalls how
early in its association with the lab, the
city agreed to allow rezoning of a land
parcel in the Woodland Hills subdivision for the construction of a motel
and convenience center complex adjacent to the lab's main entrance, but
within city limits. Batavia granted the
request, but five years later rezoned the
parcel back to single-family residential
status when no apparent interest in the motel project developed. A low-key public relations campaign
by Fermilab has helped greatly to win
friends throughout the area. Lab employees have taken an active role in
community affairs. One scientist recently has been elected president of the
Batavia Rotary Club. The wife of
another lab staff member has served as
secretary to the local citizens' advisory
committee on the school system, and the
center player on Batavia High School's
basketball team this year also comes
from a family drawn to the area by the lab.
Now, 10 years after the lab was announced, the citizens of Batavia have
stopped worrying and have settled into
the kind of relationship with Fermilab
that should serve as a model for other
communities which are concerned with
the impact of a new governmental
installation.
The largest influence of the lab on
Batavia is that the town's growth
pattern has been stabilized somewhat.
Various commercial interests are pressing for the development of the remaining open space under the city's control.
But whatever happens, Batavia citizens
can take comfort in the fact that
eastward expansion has been permanently halted due to the lab. The lab site
serves as a buffer zone between the town
and the urban sprawl moving west from
DuPage County which many Batavians
have long viewed with apprehension.
September 1976 / Illinois Issues / 19