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Aurora Beacon-News
December 13, 2001

Church: Too many links to outer belt

Development feared: Interchanges planned at Routes 52, 47, 71 and 34

By Dave Parro and Mike Norbut
BEACON NEWS STAFF

YORKVILLE — Kendall County Board Chairman John Church was waiting to see the maps of the proposed outer-belt freeway before taking a stance.

After seeing the displays, Church disputed the state's claim that the road, officially labeled the Prairie Parkway, was "limited access," saying five interchanges within county borders would encourage sprawl "to every corner of the county."

The state plans for interchanges at both Interstates and at every state and U.S. route, for a total of seven interchanges along the entire 33-mile stretch. In addition to the interchanges at I-88 and I-80, the state has planned them at Route 30 in Kane County, and at Routes 52, 47, 71 and 34 in Kendall County.

"We spend years and thousands of dollars on our own land-use plan, and then we have this," Church said. "It cuts right through the county, and we have no control."

Despite the state's effort to minimize the road's impact, Church said he does not see any creativity in the highway's design, as was requested by U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, the main catalyst for the highway planning. The corridor's relatively north-south path destroys the county's land-use and agricultural preservation plans, he said.

"As proposed, I just don't see how we can support it," he said. "There may still be the potential to connect the freeways they want to, but on an alternate route. It may not be as straight, and it may cost a little more. If there are some alternates that would fit in a more friendly way with our land-use plan, we could look at it."

Some Kane County officials — primarily County Board Chairman Mike McCoy of Aurora — have already objected to the proposal, saying it runs contrary to Kane's longterm land-use and transportation plans. The Kane County Board postponed a vote on a resolution of opposition Tuesday.

Scot LaSalle, location and environmental engineer for IDOT's Ottawa district, said the number of interchanges could be changed during first-phase studies, when the department will look road by road at the highway's effect.

The state and U.S. routes are "normal access points," he said, but interchanges could be added or dropped from the plans as the studies proceed.