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Aurora Beacon-News
January 10, 2003
Outer-belt opponents not backing down
After lawsuit dismissed, land owners say litigation only part of strategy
YORKVILLE — A day after a judge dismissed a lawsuit intended to jam the state's progress on the proposed Prairie Parkway, the property owners who filed it said they're hardly ready to give up their fight.
Sixteenth Circuit Associate Judge Leonard Wojtecki ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit filed in the name of 56 landowners fails to show that the Illinois Illinois Department of Transportation has taken their land or inflicted any financial harm on them.
The lawsuit was filed in September, a direct response to the state's laying claim to a 36-mile, 400-foot-wide strip for the outer belt, a major highway that would connect interstates 80 and 88 and run through Kane, Kendall and Grundy counties.
"In this case, the plaintiffs have not alleged any facts which would entitle them to relief," Wojtecki wrote in a two-page ruling. It continues, "The only factual allegation concerning this is the mere recording of a map of a land reservation by the state."
A leading opponent of the highway said Wojtecki's ruling is only a minor setback.
"Certainly we're disappointed, but we're not defeated," said Jan Strasma, spokesman for Citizens Against the Sprawlway.
He said the landowners plan to amend their complaint and refile it within 30 days, as Wojtecki specified in his ruling.
When they do, they won't have much of a legal leg to stand on, said IDOT attorney Richard Christopher. He maintained that the Transportation Department has followed state law throughout the process.
"There are no more facts to allege. We did what the statute said to do, and we filed a map," Christopher said. "That's just not a taking of property. We understand the people don't want us to do it, but we have not taken their property without paying for it."
Strasma, downplaying Wojtecki's ruling as a "skirmish," said the lawsuit is only part of the opposition to the highway.
The land owners also have pledged to keep a close eye on the highway's engineering and design and to show strength in numbers at community meetings related to the project.
Two such meetings will take place later this month. They are intended as public discussions of IDOT's ongoing study of the area's surging travel needs.
The first will be Jan. 22 at Kaneland South Elementary School, 85 S. Main St., Sugar Grove. The second will be Jan. 23 at The Fountains of Minooka, 502 Twin Rail Drive.
A separate meeting for public officials will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 16 at Plano High School, 704 West Abe St.
It's good that transportation officials are holding those meetings, Strasma said, but now that they've already set aside land for the highway, he can't help but find the process a bit backward.
"It looks like they've got the answers," he said, "and now, they're going to find out what the questions are."
Contact John Zaremba at (630) 801-5414 or jzaremba@scn1.com.