Momentum from state leaders to remediate the Jacksonville Developmental Center grounds appears to be growing.
Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard revealed to the city council on Monday night that within the last week he had met with members of Governor JB Pritzker’s team and Central Management Services to discuss ideas on how to get remediation efforts started.
Ezard says everything is in a preliminary stage but he’s cautiously optimistic that something may get moving to get the JDC property cleaned up: “We shared our story and they got brought up to speed on that. They also asked about what ideas do we have here. We shared with them our community-wide survey and what Jacksonville folks would like to see [happen with the property]. We also made sure to let them know that we are opened up to help them. Obviously this will fall under whether or not if the state budget is passed under a program that they really want to spotlight as far as capital dollars into existing facilities that have been shut down over the years. So, it’s a very important step for the state to get that in gear, which was encouraging with the budget proposal. We had a good, over an hour meeting of meaningful conversation. We promised all of us that we were going to keep that up. We shared how we kind of want it to roll, and everybody is getting back to one another with ideas.”
Ezard understands that political priorities can change on a whim, but he is holding out that the Pritzker Administration’s $300 million budget proposal to remediate surplus properties will achieve bipartisan support.
Ezard says he was particularly encouraged by the situation because of a follow-up phone call he received directly from the governor on the situation: “We spoke on the phone on a lot of things we went over in that initial meeting, and also, became familiar with each other, which is important. We discussed his priorities and why he wants to see this through and how we all can potentially help the city. I’m encouraged. I know there’s a lot more work to do, but certainly is a first good step.”
Ezard said the meetings didn’t touch on the legislative process but focused more on what has been done on the property and potential future uses for the property. Ezard mentioned during the meeting with the city council that he would even like to see Jacksonville pilot the Surplus to Success program. Ezard says its as close as the city has ever been to reaching a deal with state leaders on the future of the site, since it closed in November 2012.