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Aurora Beacon-News
Februrary 20, 2002
Letter falls flat: County Board chairman wanted IDOT to study eastern alternative
By John Zaremba
STAFF WRITER
YORKVILLE ó The likelihood that the Kendall County Board will take a clear stand on the much-contested Prairie
Parkway faded Tuesday, as board members took no action on a letter that asks the Illinois Department of Transportation
to consider further an alternative eastern corridor for the highway.
Acting against the wishes of Chairman John Church, R-Oswego, board members declined to endorse Church's letter,
which he said he wrote in hope of a compromise between those who favor the proposed corridor and those who want
no freeway at all.
Church said Tuesday night that he plans to withdraw the letter, even though the board did not outwardly reject
it.
"Unless something new would develop that we can react to, I don't see that this board would do anything
further," he said.
By remaining silent, the board misses its opportunity to alter or solidify the highway plans, as IDOT officials
have told both the Kane and Kendall county boards that their official positions will be the most influential of
all.
IDOT is sifting through more than 500 statements from governments and private citizens and will take them into
account in its record of decision, a document that will include a summary of changes made to the corridor and the
impacts of those changes.
The letter, written on the board's behalf, says studying an eastern corridor more thoroughly "allows for
an outer belt, as some desire, while still addressing the concerns raised over agricultural protection and premature
sprawl."
One board member said he didn't necessarily object to the letter's message, but he did not want to make a hasty
decision on it.
"He wanted us to vote on something as complex and controversial as this in 15 minutes," said board
member John Purcell, R-Yorkville, who received the letter just before the board's meeting Tuesday morning.
Another said that, by advocating an eastern corridor, the board essentially would endorse it.
"I wouldn't mind talking about it, but not to be sprung on it," said board member Bill Cote, R-Oswego.
Another board member wanted to a stronger letter that supports particular details rather than broadly asking
for another study to determine the best place for the highway's center line.
"I would like us, as a board, to think of any suggestions . . . rather than asking them to look at something
they supposedly did," said board member Nancy Martin, R-Plano.