IDOT Interstate Connector News

Aurora Beacon-News
August 1, 2002

Outer belt route greeted by threats of lawsuits

Not won over: Opponents deride Hastert influence

By Steve Lord, Dave Parro and Mike Norbut
STAFF WRITERS

YORKVILLE ó Kane County Board Chairman Mike McCoy Wednesday called the state's decision on the outer-belt highway corridor "a billion dollar project being sited by lame duck politicians."

"This is a last ditch effort to get this done by a very corrupt administration," he said. "If it's such a solid proposal, they should do it right. This gives the project such a bad start. We're going to have a new governor, we're going to have a new Secretary of Transportation. I'm sure they're going to take a new look at this."

McCoy, speaking while out of state on vacation Wednesday, again questioned the whole process of the Illinois Department of Transportation locating and protecting a highway corridor before any studies have been done to even establish if that highway will be needed, or ever built.

"I do think corridor protection is a take (of property)," he said. "I think there are constitutional problems, and IDOT knows there are constitutional problems."

McCoy also said the county should at least look at a possible lawsuit against the state. He said county property is affected, such as Big Rock Forest Preserve, and there is a financial impact to the county.

"I think it's something we have to consider," he said.

That possibility already is under consideration by citizens affected by the corridor siting. Jan Strasma, spokesman for Citizens Against the Sprawlway, said his group will meet with property owners late this month or in early September to ask for volunteers to represent the highway's opponents in court. A lawsuit being planned will argue against the constitutionality of the state's corridor protection process.

One of those who might be willing to be part of a lawsuit is landowner Marvel Davis, who has property directly west of Big Rock Forest Preserve. The highway corridor cuts through her property.

While Illinois Secretary of Transportation Kirk Brown defended the corridor protection process Wednesday, saying the state has used it for decades, Davis said she and other highway opponents are eager to issue a challenge.

"Let us be the first to test this," she said. "Let the fight begin."

Not taken seriously

While Strasma said he did not expect the changes announced Wednesday to be much different than IDOT's original proposed alignment, he noted all the significant changes to the map were in Kendall County. They were in line with suggestions made by highway advocate U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, who wrote a letter to the state in February asking for "common-sense" changes such as running the road along section lines and power structure rights of way.

That advice was followed in southern Kendall County near Newark and Lisbon.

"Kane County sure didn't get much, did they?" Strasma said. "They got a little tweak at Kaneville and little tweak at Dauberman (Road), and that's all. Of the 1,500 comments, you know who they listened to? They listened to Dennis Hastert."

McCoy, who had presented an alternative corridor that cut through Kane County further east, between Sugar Grove, Montgomery and Aurora, said no one from the state ever called him or anyone else from Kane County to ask about it.

"I don't really think they took Kane County's proposal seriously," he said.

Hastert statement

In a statement released Wednesday, Hastert applauded IDOT for sifting through the public comments and making changes based on that input. Hastert spokesman Brad Hahn said the speaker was pleased his recommendations were heeded, but he noted Hastert never asked for changes in specific geographic areas.

"Based on public hearings, (the) adjustments announced today make sense and will mean fewer disruptions for property owners and communities," Hastert said in the statement.

Helmar farmer Howard Christian is one of the few property owners whose property was affected by the original proposal but not by the revised alignment. While he's happy his property was dropped from the corridor map, he still worries about the farming community in general.

"It's a good thing for us, but it just steps on somebody else," Christian said. "Anything like that's going to change the community. It'll never be the same."

New Randall Road?

Not everyone was in a fighting mood Wednesday, however.

Kendall County Board member Anne Vickery, who has supported the outer-belt concept from its inception, said the changes introduced in the final alignment, particularly the ones in southern Kendall County, were "very positive moves."

"They got rid of the major problem areas," she said. "I think what they did made sense."

Kane County Board member Karen Steve-McConnaughay, R-St. Charles, Transportation Committee chairman, said while the County Board should be an aggressive part of the process, it should stop short of getting involved in any lawsuits against the IDOT alignment.

"The state has made its decision," she said. "Not everyone is happy, which is understandable. But we have a responsibility to work in a cooperative manner with the state. We need to do things to make sure this doesn't become an interstate version of Randall Road."