Kane County Chronicle
April 1, 2007
BIG ROCK – Amid the school building plans and the multi-page bid
for a new village are two one-sentence referendums that backers hope
could affect Kane County’s destiny forever.
When voters hit the polls April 17 – or in the current early
voting period – voters in Big Rock and Kaneville townships will
have a chance to voice their opinions on the proposed Prairie Parkway,
a billion-dollar road project connecting Interstate 88 to Interstate 80.
“This is one way we have of just going on record as to how we
view this,” said anti-Parkway activist Marvel Davis, 79.
The questions are advisory referendums, put on the ballot by
collections of signatures. The results of advisory referendums are
non-binding; officials can proceed with any plan they wish.
“Advisory referendums are passed all the time,” said
Prairie Parkway project manager Rick Powell of the Illinois Department
of Transportation. “We’re not bound by law to follow them,
but certainly they would be considered in any decision.”
Recent advisory referendums included November 2006 questions in Geneva
and Aurora townships regarding whether the U.S. should pull out of
Iraq. Voters in both townships said the U.S. should.
However, the vote could influence legislators’ views down the road, Powell said.
“It’s not going to affect anything we’re doing now.
It may have an effect or maybe not on future funding levels,” he
said.
Davis said it was easy for the group Citizens Against the Sprawlway to collect the needed signatures.
“We just asked a few people if they would like to circulate a
petition, and they went around and got the required amount of
signatures, plus an extra quantity,” she said. “It was not
a hard thing to do in our community.”
To get an advisory referendum on the ballot, citizens must collect the
signatures of 8 percent of the people who voted in the last
gubernatorial election.
Kaneville Township Supervisor Leon Gramley, 63, said he opposed the Parkway, but was unsure how he will vote.
“I’m going to vote on it; I’m not sure which way
I’m going to vote on it,” Gramley said. “Really,
[Prairie Parkway] is going to happen whether the people of Big Rock and
Kaneville want it or not.”
The official public comment period for the project’s draft
environmental ended Feb. 28. Later this spring, IDOT officials should
announce their pick of the two possible road routes, Powell said.
A public comment period tentatively is set for June, but comment will
be limited to road closures and the re-work of the protected corridor
to match the current road plans.
“We’re using less than half of that corridor with either
build option we have now,” Powell said. “That would be the
last public comment opportunity.”
Davis said the vote would show what area residents thought about the
Parkway. She expects voters to nix the plan, but said people who wanted
the road, also called the Outer Beltway, might not share their opinions
with a known opponent of the plan.
“The one thing about this election is it would give us a handle
on where people stand,” she said. “I don’t think
I’m a very good judge. I strongly believe in the democratic
process, and I would feel sorry if people didn’t talk to me about
why they want the beltway.”