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Aurora Beacon-News
August 2, 2002

Towns hold to stands on outer-belt plans

Similar alignment: Opinions pro and con don't shift with revisions
By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER

If state transportation officials wanted to find out how different communities would respond to its revised Prairie Parkway corridor, all they had to do was look back at the comments submitted to them earlier this year.

The final path of the road connecting Interstates 88 and 80 hasn't really shifted enough to warrant any changes in opinion.

Those who backed the central corridor proposed by the Illinois Department of Transportation late last year lauded the state's minor revisions announced Wednesday, while those who asked for substantial changes said their concerns were ignored by state officials who already had their minds made up long ago.

IDOT's corridor map still pleases and angers the same people it did eight months ago.

The village of Big Rock and its residents have screamed the loudest, blasting IDOT for proposing a 400-foot-wide highway through a historical, forested community. Their language was even harsher after Wednesday's decision, now that their objections have been ignored.

"The people are very angry, very upset about how this thing has turned out," said Kevin Hogle, Big Rock village president. "We got lip service from IDOT and were not given the respect that we deserve."

Hogle said he sees opportunities for landowners, Kane County and the village to fight the corridor-protection process, which the state uses to guard land against future development.

"I see the final decision being made in court," he said.

Other towns support plan
Most other Kane and Kendall County communities in the path of the 35.8-mile corridor have passed resolutions in favor of IDOT's central corridor, and they reiterated their stances this week. The central corridor starts near Kaneville and runs south between Yorkville and Plano and then heads southeast before ending in Minooka.

Sugar Grove officials, who supported the center alignment in February, said the town now can move forward with its comprehensive plan and transportation studies, aiming to have the least impact on the environment.

Trustee Mari Johnson said state officials chose the better route between the central corridor and two eastern alternatives, including one proposed by Kane County Board Chairman Mike McCoy.

"Thank God they didn't follow Mike McCoy's suggestions," she said.

Johnson said McCoy's alignment compromise, which combined the central and eastern routes, "twisted all around" and went through planned developments in Sugar Grove's planning area.

Montgomery raised the same objections to an eastern alternative, saying five or six planned subdivisions would have been disrupted in the village's development area. Marilyn Michelini, village president, said IDOT showed it was receptive to the concerns of smaller towns like Montgomery and Sugar Grove in choosing a final corridor.

Yorkville Mayor Art Prochaska said the revised alignment wisely made some changes to keep farms intact, though he hopes IDOT will consider making the highway a true parkway, complete with green and open space. The Yorkville City Council passed a resolution supporting the central corridor, but aldermen called for protection of agricultural land along the strip.

"It would be nice to keep that rural feeling when you get away from the intersections," Prochaska said. "It could work if everyone works together."

Farm community reaction
Farmers all along have been the biggest opponents of an outer-belt highway, which would eat up hundreds of acres of land.

Brad Walker, of the American Farmland Trust, said the Prairie Parkway will make the goal of preserving thousands of acres of land more difficult. The organization recently started a farmland preservation group in Kendall County, and the road as plotted runs through what is now the largest collection of open farm land in the county.

Walker said it was another case of development going through the path of least resistance, in this case farmland. The American Farmland Trust will discuss what the outer belt will mean to their efforts at their next meeting on Aug. 14.

Rich Stovall, a grain farmer from Plattville and president of the Kendall County Farm Bureau, said the farm bureau is still opposed to the taking of farm ground. Even though the new plan will affect slightly different land, it will "still have quite an impact on the ag economy."

The Kane County Farm Bureau voted against the outer belt in February, though no representatives were available for comment Thursday. STAFF WRITERS Jim Faber and Marie-Ann Hogarth contributed to this report.