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Elburn Herald
April 17, 2003
IDOT files motion to dismiss lawsuit, bill attacking statute stalls in committee.
by Susan O'Neill
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) fired another volley in its legal battle with a group of homeowners
opposed to the Prairie Parkway corridor.
IDOT filed a motion March 31 to dismiss an amended complaint against former Secretary of Transportation Kirk Brown
and IDOT. The complaint, filed by Big Rock farm owner Marvel Davis and a group of property owners, is an amendment
to the original lawsuit that was filed last September.
The lawsuit called the statute IDOT used to site the corridor unconstitutional. The suit also said the state was
not following its own process laid out by the statute.
"The state is placing restrictions on people's property indefinitely without paying them for the privilege
and without following the protections guaranteed in both the state and federal constitutions," the property
owner's attorney, Tim Dwyer, said when the suit was filed.
"Further, although the statutes require a showing of need for the highway, IDOT has repeatedly stated that
it does not know if the beltway is needed."
On July 31, 2002, Kirk Brown, then Secretary of IDOT, announced IDOT was recording a 400-foot wide corridor stretching
36 miles from Interstate 80 near Minooka in Grundy County to Interstate 88 east of Kaneville in Kane County.
As a result of the IDOT designation, owners of the 193 property parcels crossed by the corridor cannot make improvements
to their property without first seeking the state's approval. If the state denies the owner's request, it must
then begin proceedings to purchase the property.
"Our position is pretty simple," said IDOT's attorney Richard Christopher. "We have not hurt anybody,
nor have we taken anyone's property. They're (the property owners are) really attacking the statute and saying
that we're impinging on a constitutional right, and we just think that's not the case."
Oral arguments for the lawsuit have been set for June 14.
In another legal venue, Citizens Against the Sprawlway Chairperson Jan Strasma and Davis testified in Springfield
on March 27 regarding a bill sponsored by state Senator Chris Lauzen to change the statute used by IDOT in siting
the corridor.
"My role (in testifying before the committee) was to put a human face on what happens when a corridor is named,"
Davis said. "We've been told over and over by IDOT that this highway won't affect us. If they really believe
that, then they are on a different planet than I'm on."
The revised bill added additional safeguards to the corridor siting process by requiring a needs assessment to
be done prior to recording the corridor, requiring direct notification of property owners and restricting the time-frame
for a corridor siting to 10 years, after which time the state would have to refile.
"There's a balance between our individual rights and our government, and once in a while, it goes out of whack,"
Lauzen said. "If they (IDOT officials) don't have to prove they even need the road, there's something wrong
with that."
In addition, the bill specified that IDOT hold a town-hall-style meeting on the corridor siting, as opposed to
the public hearing IDOT held in December of 2001. The public hearing allowed citizens to provide feedback privately
to state officials, while a town hall meeting would allow the feedback to be heard by others attending the meeting.
"The change to a town hall format sounds like a small change," Lauzen continued, "but it's profound
strategically."
Lauzen explained when citizens are able to listen to what others are saying, everybody gets more out of it. The
way a public hearing works is that each citizen gives his or her feedback to a recorder, who enters it into the
record, but no one else is able to hear what is said.
"The public hearing format can divide and conquer by keeping the opposition fragmented," he said.
Christopher defended the current statute, stating that if a landowner wants to improve their property, they must
notify IDOT.
"Then, if we want your property," he explained, "we have the ability to take it. If we decide we
don't want it, you can do anything you want with it."
Lauzen said state Senator Terry Link, one of the five senators who voted in support of the bill, has seen what
has happened north of Route 53.
"They've been talking about putting a road there longer than there's been dirt," said Lauzen. "They
(IDOT) put a mark on people's property, and it never goes away."
Link said that the project to extend Highway 53 through Lake County has been on the books close to 50 years. The
corridor was sited at that time, and the marks placed on people's property back then remain to this day.
"They (IDOT) said it didn't affect people that owned property along this corridor, but they have been affected
adversely, and the value of their property has been hindered because of this," Link said.
He explained that homeowners have met resistance from potential buyers once they learned about the potential highway.
Some buyers simply refused to purchase the property, while others used it as a negotiating tool to lower the property's
price.
Link said some type of review needs to be built into the statute, requiring this type of project to be reviewed
every five or 10 years. Currently, he explained, the mark stays on a person's property indefinitely.
Strasma said he and Marvel testified because of their involvement with the Prairie Parkway and seeing firsthand
the shortcomings in the process. He explained that the new legislation would not affect the Prairie Parkway, except
for the 10-year limit on the corridor siting.
"We sent our comments (to the committee)," said Christopher. "The department's position is that
the amendment will defeat the purpose of corridor protection, which is to get out in advance of the studies to
protect the right-of-way and to save taxpayers' money, and possibly making the road not even possible."
"IDOT will tell you it'll cost too much (to conduct the needs assessment before siting the corridor),"
Lauzen responded. "Well, for who? How about Marvel Davis' land that has been in her family for 160 years going
back to the Civil War and will become unfarmable?"
The bill, introduced to the senate transportation committee last week, received a 5-5 vote, effectively stalling
it in committee.
"It's stalled right now." said Lauzen. "We ain't givin' up."