Public Wants Improvement of Greene Farm Barn

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Residents met once again with Forest Preserve District of DuPage County Commissioner Mary Lou Wehrli to discuss the future of the Greene Farm Barn.

A bunch of ideas have been circulated for its future use, including education, music, living history interpretation, and weddings.

But before anything can happen, it needs to be recognized by the forest preserve board – and at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be much support.

Wehrli said that it takes two commissioners to bring an item onto the agenda, and she hasn’t been able to get one of her fellow elected officials to join her to do that.

“To me, the vision has to come first and it needs to come from the board identifying this as a project the public wants,” said Wehrli. “There’s nothing a board likes more than the public coming with their ideas that can be discussed by the board in a responsible manner.”

Several residents at the meeting said they would speak in front of the board at their October 2 meeting to drum up support.

“If the commission would seriously consider appointing a committee be created to research what the potential is,” said interested resident Peggy Frank. “And I think we have enough data to support the fact that there’s community interest in making the next step.”

Joe Cantore, President of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, did attend the meeting and spoke to residents about his personal experience with the Greene Farm Barn.

Commissioner Linda Painter also appeared, but had to leave before the meeting proper to avoid violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

The last action on the Greene Farm Barn was in 2012, when the forest preserve board spent over $1 million to stabilize its condition.

Naperville News 17’s Blane Erwin reports.