The Illinois Department of Transportation has told Lincolnshire officials that it will not need to buy village-owned land to widen Illinois Highway 22, taking away what village officials had hoped would be a powerful bargaining chip.
In response, village officials voted Monday night to begin searching for a lawyer in case its dispute with IDOT over the road plan goes to court.
“I don’t think we should wait [to identify a law firm] until we get to a point where we need litigation,” Trustee Ann Maine said. “We shouldn’t wait until the 11th hour.”
Mayor Barbara LaPiana, several village staff members and other elected officials met with Illinois Secretary of Transportation Kirk Brown last month. At the meeting, LaPiana said, IDOT told the officials that it will not need any village-owned land for the project.
“We won’t know this for sure until we see construction drawings,” LaPiana wrote in a letter to the community. “If this is true, then this would greatly reduce the possibility of litigating with IDOT over the taking of village-owned land, which is a major position of the opposition group to our IDOT negotiations.
“Be mindful that if we end up litigating with IDOT, I don’t expect it to fill any of our negotiating requests,” she said.
The village last fall presented IDOT with a list of 33 conditions to its approval of the road or any transfer of village land. Among the conditions, the village asked that the road be divided by painted yellow lines instead of a raised median, and that IDOT pay for moving any utilities that are in the way. The village also requested that the speed limit be reduced, and that dense landscaping be provided for screening and to reduce noise.
Though IDOT agreed to use double yellow lines, transportation officials said they would not pay for moving utilities, because it would set a precedent that could cost the state millions of dollars, LaPiana said. The state said it will study whether the speed limit should be lowered.
IDOT is expected to respond in writing to all of the village’s 33 conditions in the next few weeks.
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