A vision of what DeKalb’s southwest side could look like was revealed Saturday, as participants of a fact-finding bus trip fleshed out disagreements on a sprawling DeKalb development.

Citizens, city staff and council members drove to Aurora at 8 a.m. Saturday. The purpose of the trip, sponsored by developer Keating Resources, was to show examples of layouts, landscaping and buildings that might be included in the proposed DeKalb Business Center just south of Interstate 88.

Residents of the area surrounding the potential development have been skeptical about what DeKalb’s business center might look like once up and running. Most are centered on logistical concerns, such as where all the trucks from the warehouses would travel.

“We are not against industry, it is diversifying the types of industry that’s needed,” area resident Joe Croft said.

The trip began by surveying the site of the anticipated development. To begin, Gurler Road would be widened and reinforced to make it a truck route, said Gerald Keating, president of Keating Resources.

Several sites were visited on the tour, including CenterPoint, West Ridge and Butterfield in Aurora.

In the CenterPoint Business Center off the Orchard Road exit of I-88, the Toyota building was used to show examples of planned landscaping and heights of burms. Burms are raised hills used to separate businesses from adjacent streets.

Car traffic generated by an office building can create many of the same problems truck traffic will, Keating said when showing the Farmer’s Insurance building.

At a building in the West Ridge Corporate Center near the Aurora Outlet Mall, Keating showed an example of a concrete barrier used to shield the truck docks.

“I might even take that wall a little higher,” Keating said.

Many different strategies to control the flow of truck traffic were discussed.

“On a project I worked in St. Charles they constructed a steel barrier,” Keating said.

Keating, a Geneva resident, spoke several times about how his hometown did not reserve enough land for business development and has suffered the consequences.

Although 5th Ward Alderman Patrick Conboy would not nail down exactly where his stance on the annexation agreement, he did ask Community Development Director Russ Farnum how much the city could regulate the development once construction is underway.

Farnum assured him the city has “an extra layer of review. The final buildings needs to be approved by the Plan Commission and City Council.”

The size and flexibility of the DeKalb Business Park could allow DeKalb to attract more appealing, revenue-generating businesses.

“There is no reason why DeKalb can’t attract a corporate headquarters,” Keating said. “If passed this will be the largest business park west of Chicago.”

In DeKalb, there is a lack of variety in size of buildings for companies to choose to move to, but this development could help with that problem, said Roger Hopkins, executive director of DeKalb County Economic Development.

Many of the community’s concerns are addressed by DeKalb’s restrictions on the developer, such as the requirement that buildings cannot be too close to a street.

Standards from DeKalb are much more stringent than other cities we’ve dealt with, Keating said.

Overall, Keating felt positive about the trip. “The community was very receptive to understanding the facts, even if we disagree,” he said.