Chicago Tribune
October 5, 2005
By William Presecky
Tribune staff writer
The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a lawsuit filed in 2002 by several dozen property owners in Kane and Kendall Counties whose land is included in a protected transportation corridor that state road planners say may be needed for a future outer-belt expressway.
Attorneys for the property owners and the Illinois Department of Transportation received notification Monday that the court has agreed to accept the corridor case on appeal.
Attorney Timothy Dwyer of St. Charles, who represents the 56 property owners, said he expects January or May to be the soonest the case might be heard.
By chance, the court's notification coincides with an IDOT study released this week. The study concludes that two potential expressway routes using all or part of the protected corridor seem be the most feasible alternatives to alleviate the area's increased transportation needs.
A public meeting will be held Wednesday to present the results of more than two years of IDOT study.
The study identifies the best alternatives for meeting the area's existing and projected transportation needs. The open house-style meeting is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. in White Oak Elementary School, 2001 Dupont St., in Morris.
The property owners whose land is included in the 36-mile by 400-foot corridor IDOT designated for protection in July 2002, have failed to persuade a judge that Illinois' transportation corridor protection statute is unconstitutional.
The state Appellate Court in April affirmed a lower court ruling that IDOT had the authority to protect a north-south corridor linking Illinois Highway 88, near Kaneville, and Illinois Highway 80, near Minooka.
In addition to a route that largely follows the path of the original corridor, IDOT planners have recommended studying the feasibility of a second route. That route uses the protected path past the Plano and Yorkville area and extends through an unprotected area directly south to I-80 just west of Morris.
Detailed engineering and environmental studies of both routes are expected to take at least two years. The recently signed federal transportation bill includes more than $200 million for an expressway in the area.
"This particular section of the statute has been around since 1967 and it has never been adjudicated. It raises a host of very interesting constitutional questions," Dwyer said. "There are a lot of issues here involving property rights and the state's power."
The protected Prairie Parkway corridor includes more than 190 properties.
Although IDOT has not decided whether to build a so-called Prairie Parkway, the agency initiated corridor protection more than three years ago as a hedge against the eventual need for one.