Aurora Beacon-News
December 15, 2001
By Mike Norbut and Steve Lord
STAFF WRITERS
More time: Meanwhile, Kane and Kendall counties seek 120 days for public comment
Plans for a northern leg of a proposed outer-ring highway through Kane County appear to be dead &emdash; for now.
The highway would link Interstate 90 in the north to Interstate 88 and, at one time, was proposed for a corridor that would have run through western Kane County.
Officials from the Illinois Department of Transportation said this week, however, there are less-compelling reasons to consider the northern leg of the highway than the southern leg.
IDOT held a public hearing Tuesday in Yorkville on a proposed corridor for the southern leg, which the state agency wants to site as quickly as possible.
It would run from I-88 south through Kane County, roughly as far west as Kaneville, then on through Kendall County until it turned and met with Interstate 80 in Grundy County.
"To the south, there is a need to preserve a corridor because of developmental pressures," said Pat Pechnick, bureau chief of programming for IDOT District 1 in Schaumburg. "To the north of I-80, the same developmental pressures aren't there."
An official from IDOT District 3 in Ottawa, which is handling the southern leg project, agreed the northern leg, which District 1 would handle, never may be sited.
"What we have here is a section that can stand by itself &emdash; it does not lock us in to a northern section," said Scot LaSalle, District 3 location and environmental engineer. "Logically, it makes sense for a northern section."
Pechnick said no work has been done on the feasibility study for the northern section since late 1998, when IDOT last presented alignment alternatives to Kane County. The study never has been completed, and there are currently no plans for a next step, he said.
Kane County Board Chairman Mike McCoy, R-Aurora, told the Executive Committee Thursday IDOT officials told him the northern leg was dead for now. McCoy talked at length with IDOT officials Tuesday at the public hearing for siting a centerline for the southern leg.
"I interrogated them about it, and I believe them," McCoy said.
Letter sent
Still, McCoy said the entire situation needs more study &emdash; more than the 30 days IDOT has allotted for public comment after Tuesday's hearing.
McCoy and Kendall County Board Chairman John Church, R-Oswego, said Thursday they both want IDOT to extend the comment period to 120 days from the planned 30 days.
"This is a $1 billion project, with a lot of ramifications; they had 800 to 900 people at a public hearing," McCoy told the Kane County Board's Executive Committee Thursday. "I don't think there can be any larger public-works project, other than maybe an airport, and they put only a 30-day comment time on this. I think 120 days is reasonable."
The Executive Committee unanimously agreed with McCoy, and he sent the letter Thursday afternoon to Kirk Brown, Illinois secretary of transportation.
In his letter, McCoy asked for the 120 days, pointing to several factors, including the fact 800 to 900 people attended Tuesday's public hearing on the southern leg corridor.
McCoy's letter also said Kane officials would like to see a public-information meeting in Kane County before the public comment time is finished.
Church said he intends to consult the Kendall County Board Tuesday about requesting the longer time period.
"We'd like to ask them for more time for public input," he said. "I just chose 120 days. It's better than 30."
Church said four months should be enough time for the state to give a good-faith effort at considering alternatives.
"If they're seriously willing to look at alternatives, that should be enough," he said. "If, after 120 days, they don't like any alternatives, then I guess there's no reason to ask for more time."
Pushing fast
In his letter, McCoy also said additional time is needed to evaluate alternate corridor locations. He said Thursday there were two alternatives at one time: One would have cut through DeKalb County, just west of the line with Kane; the other would have kept the same corridor in Kendall County but cut east along Route 30 to where it would hook up toward Route 56 between Aurora and Sugar Grove in Kane.
"They took them out before they brought it to us," McCoy said.
McCoy said a tape IDOT has produced gives the reasons for eliminating the alternate proposals, but he said the tape, which was playing at the hearing Tuesday, only vaguely addresses those reasons.
"It's really more of a tape to promote the proposed corridor," McCoy said.
McCoy said because the city of Aurora "very strongly" supports the Outer Belt highway, the alternative closer to Aurora might be one both Kane County and Aurora could support.
Kane board members remained adamant that IDOT is moving too fast. They pointed out that neither IDOT nor the federal government moved this quickly when Kane County was trying to site corridors for the bridges over the Fox River.
"Have you ever seen a project pushed through so fast?" Board member Gerry Jones, D-Aurora, asked his fellow board members.