Elburn Herald
December 2, 2004
Public comment sought Dec. 8 in Sugar Grove.
by Susan O'Neill
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will hold two open houses on the Prairie Parkway study next week.
The first one, on Wednesday, Dec. 8, will be held at John Shields Elementary School in Sugar Grove, and the second
one, on Thursday, Dec. 9, will be held at the White Oaks Elementary School in Morris. Both meetings are scheduled
to run from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
The Prairie Parkway is a proposed highway that would connect Interstates 80 and 88 and run through Kane, Kendall
and Grundy counties.
IDOT officials will present a summary of the comments they received from citizens, public officials and other stakeholders
on what improvements to transportation they feel are needed in the area.
Participants may come at any time to review the exhibits and to interact one-on-one with IDOT officials, explained
IDOT project engineer Rick Powell. At 6:30 p.m., a panel will respond to questions gathered from the audience.
Earlier this fall, IDOT moved from identifying the need for transportation solutions to the identification of possible
alternatives and the impacts these alternatives would have on the surrounding environment. The publication of the
notice of intent on Sept. 10 signaled the start of the environmental review process required by law as a part of
this study.
Terry Savko from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Newton Ellens of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency and John Betker from the Corps of Engineers were among those who attended a meeting with IDOT officials
in October to initiate the first step in the process of determining the environmental impact and the identification
of possible alternative corridors for the highway. Representatives of these and other agencies, such as county
soil & water conservation districts and planning departments, are now reviewing the potential impacts a highway
such as the Prairie Parkway will have on the surrounding environment.
Among other issues, Savko said she will review the proposed path of the highway for instances where it would create
severed parcels of land, remnants of farmland left unusable or landlocked parcels of farm property.
"Farmland is cheaper," said Savko, explaining why she believes the tendency is for roads to be built
through land zoned agricultural. "The only problem with that is that it opens it up to more sprawl sooner."
She explained, however, that IDOT's process for planning highways is better than it used to be.
"In years past, they used to just draw a line," she said. "Now it's more organized; it's a well-tuned
machine."
The Army Corps of Engineers has regulatory authority over the discharge of fill into streams, rivers and wetlands,
said Betker. His agency will be looking at ways of reducing the impacts of a road on wetlands, farming and food
production and other issues involving the public interest. He added that the cost of building a highway is one
of the factors he will consider.
"Sometimes the environment takes the hit," he explained. "We have to weigh all the factors."
Ellens said that he will be looking at potential impacts to surrounding streams and wetlands that a highway would
have. He explained that impacts could include contamination from chemicals and other problems associated with wetlands
and streams close to development or a roadway.
Jan Strasma, representing the Prairie Parkway opposition group Citizens Against the Sprawlway, said that public
involvement in this phase of the study is critical. Although Powell has said that public comments gathered so far
during the process will be considered as IDOT moves forward in its study, Strasma explained that only comments
given to IDOT now that the formal process has begun are required to be included in the public record.
"IDOT is making an effort to involve the public, but the Prairie Parkway as a beltway is a priority for the
state and for Congressman (Dennis) Hastert," he said. "I would encourage people to attend these meetings.
We the public need to be involved as much as possible."