By David R. Kazak
Daily Herald Staff Writer
An outer-belt expressway route proposed in Kane County for an area just west of Aurora received a nod of approval
from a group of high-ranking county board members Wednesday.
The county's executive committee - which approves issues for the full county board to consider - unanimously supported
the proposal drafted by board Chairman Mike McCoy.
Earlier this week, McCoy presented the proposal as an alternative to a controversial Illinois Department of Transportation
plan that would put the outer-belt expressway in Kane County's undeveloped western farmland.
The expressway, which enjoys strong support from U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, would link I-80 in Grundy County
near Minooka with I-88 in Kane County.
Controversy over the outer belt swelled when IDOT announced in December its desire to record the 400-foot-wide,
33-mile-long corridor on the deeds of landowners in its path.
Critics, including McCoy, blasted the state's plan because it sliced through 9 miles of farmland in Big Rock and
Kaneville townships - land county officials have vowed to protect from development.
A designated corridor, opponents said, would make the prospect of an expressway that much more certain, inviting
sprawl.
McCoy's proposal moves the corridor farther east, snaking it through about 3 miles of open land between the southern
Kane towns of Sugar Grove and Montgomery just west of Aurora.
McCoy said his proposal is a compromise that addresses local and regional traffic congestion, has less environmental
impact than the state's plan, and protects the county's western land from pre-mature development.
John Hoscheit, a Republican county board member from St. Charles and executive committee member, agreed.
"The county is concerned about creating an additional development corridor outside existing urban areas,"
Hoscheit said. "This will control growth."
Still, growth is exactly what officials from Sugar Grove and Montgomery said they want, and it's why they'll fight
the county's alternate plan.
"We're having a special meeting Friday night, and at that meeting, our board will vote to oppose the county's
proposed outer-belt expressway corridor," said Sugar Grove Village President Sean Michels.
The land in question is still unincorporated and under county control, but Michels said both Sugar Grove and Montgomery
have planned for the construction of thousands of homes there.
"Sugar Grove, like any other town, wants to build up its retail businesses," Michels said. "And
to do that, you have to have rooftops."
Locating an expressway corridor in the land that the two towns say is planned for homes would be detrimental, Michels
said, adding that if state officials agree to Kane County's proposal, they'll face more opposition than it's facing
now.
"Of course there's be more," Michels said. "You're affecting so many more homes, so many planned
subdivisions."
Besides increased opposition, McCoy's alternate corridor cuts through land that is much more expensive than the
farmland out west, Michels said.
"The question will be this: Is it worth it for IDOT to buy that property from the developers who now own it
and hold onto it for 20 years?" Michels asked.
It's unclear whether Michels' argument is valid, but Richard Adorjan, spokesman for Illinois Transportation Secretary
Kirk Brown, has said in recent weeks that the state won't consider alternate corridors that affect more homes than
its current proposal.
McCoy has said all sides in the debate should be prepared to give a little ground, but Michels said McCoy and the
other board members who support his plan are asking for more than a little.
"As frustrated as the county was with IDOT, I'm frustrated with Kane County, because they're doing the exact
same thing," he said.
Hoscheit didn't think so. McCoy offered to include Sugar Grove and Montgomery in the planning of this alternate
corridor, he said, and that's an opportunity the state never gave the county.
Besides, any development the towns have planned can be accommodated to fit the county's proposal, Hoscheit said.
"I would think (an interstate highway) giving them easier access to places like Oak Brook or Naperville would
be a plus for homes there," he said. "Construction wouldn't stop.
"I think it would be enhanced," Hoscheit said.
Michels said he is disappointed the objections he and Montgomery leaders have voiced are being ignored.
"We told them how we feel," he said. "Apparently, nobody listened.
"That's unfortunate."