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Aurora Beacon-News
February 8, 2002
By Marie-Anne Hogarth
STAFF WRITER
ST. CHARLES ó Because the dreams of farmers may be shattered, said Kane County Farm Bureau President Mike Kenyon,
the Farm Bureau is not lending its support to the proposed Prairie Parkway, a highway stretching 33 miles through
western Kane and Kendall counties to connect Interstates 88 and 80.
Following what Kenyon said was unanimous agreement among Farm Board members, Kenyon wrote a letter to Illinois
Department of Transportation officials Thursday, telling the state that the bureau opposes "corridor protection"
in building the road.
Corridor protection allows the state to designate a corridor before performing detailed studies, some of which
could take years. Under the law, once the corridor is recorded, people living along the corridor cannot build without
first giving the state option to buy their property.
"My main concern is that people are treated fairly," Kenyon said. "We will have a study that impacts
the environment, but what the heck about the people?"
Corridor protection would place a burden on 191 Kane and Kendall county property owners along the corridor, Kenyon's
letter says, and it would force IDOT into one, predetermined corridor if the road is ever built.
Farm Bureau Manager Steve Arnold said that corridor protection might benefit some land owners. Recording the
corridor in the public domain gives land owners the chance to sell their property early, before there is a theoretical
cloud on the title, because the whole community knows the land will become a road.
Arnold said, however, that's only a benefit if the road gets built, "and that is a huge if."
Kenyon's letter faults IDOT for not providing the Farm Bureau and the public with sufficient information to answer
the second question addressed in public hearings: "Is this the proper corridor."
Farm Bureau officials said they asked IDOT for, but did not receive, detailed comparisons of planning factors
in the three corridors ó the one through western Kane County and alternative corridors to the east and west.
While other officials did receive some information from IDOT, Arnold said the Farm Bureau never got it, and IDOT
did not make a good-faith effort to provide the public the facts.
"You become suspicious of a state organization that doesn't give you all the information, which you paid
for," Kenyon said. "They are nice guys. They come to the meetings and answer the questions, but they
don't give you details."
IDOT Program Development Engineer Greg Mounts said his office has been working to send the information to as
many people as possible, but some people still say IDOT doesn't have sufficient details.
"The information that we have provided is what we have at corridor protection," Mounts said. "If
they feel that information is lacking, then they don't feel that corridor protection is the correct process."
The Farm Bureau also made recommendations in case the state proceeds with studies for a future north-south transportation
link.
Among these, the Farm Bureau recommends:
"The planning process should account for the reality that transportation corridors often determine growth
areas, and public funds will be expended by local government to extend infrastructure . . ."
The Farm Bureau also advised IDOT that planning be done in cooperation with local governments, corridors should
minimize impact to farmland, and corridor protection should be used sparingly to preserve potential river and highway
crossings in areas of rapid development