In another of a recent string of setbacks to the proposed expansion of O’Hare International Airport, Chicago’s efforts to purchase suburban property remain frozen after a DuPage County judge on Wednesday clarified her earlier order stopping the buys.
Judge Hollis Webster said her order prohibits Chicago from taking “any further action”–including negotiating with landowners in Bensenville–to gather property before receiving state approvals for the expansion project.
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Covered by the injunction are 17 homeowners who filed an emergency petition with the court Wednesday asking that they be allowed to sell their residences to Chicago under arrangements made before the judge’s July 9 ruling.
“It’s like we’ve involuntarily been exiled in Bensenville,” said Orchard Avenue resident Tim Taylor after the hearing in Wheaton.
Attorneys for Chicago promised to notify immediately the Illinois Appellate Court in Elgin of their intention to appeal. No filing had been received at the clerk’s office by close of business Wednesday, an office representative said.
“We should be able to talk to citizens to learn their desires and wishes as to the disposition of their property,” Emily Nicklin, an attorney representing Chicago, said Wednesday. “But our land acquisition is on hold.”
Nicklin had argued that the language in the order should allow for Chicago to make efforts to line up land buys but not acquire titles.
The city would like to begin runway construction by 2004, and officials had aimed to seek approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation as their effort to buy more than 430 acres for the project proceeded. Webster’s ruling may delay for months the $6.6 billion plan to reconfigure O’Hare.
The delay comes as airport proponents face the repercussions of a defeat this week in the U.S. House, which voted down key O’Hare legislation.
In Washington, backers of the expansion prepared to make a second attempt, seeking to sway wavering lawmakers by invoking the support of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.)
Hastert has been publicly neutral on the legislation. But the speaker has given it tacit support by expediting its consideration on the House floor and quickly declaring he would allow sponsors a second chance to pass it.
“He’s officially neutral, but he wants to get the legislation through the process,” said Hastert spokesman John Feehery, who declined to elaborate.
Sponsors came up short Monday when they tried to pass the legislation through the House on a fast-track procedure that allowed only 40 minutes of debate and prevented amendments. The 247-143 vote was short of the two-thirds majority required under the procedure.
The sponsors plan to bring the legislation to a vote again next week, but they haven’t decided whether to use the expedited procedure. Instead, they could try to pass the bill through routine procedures, which would require a simple majority but could open the door to unwelcome amendments.
Meanwhile, the ruling by Webster demands that IDOT approval precede any land buys. Webster is hearing a suit brought by O’Hare opponents who call illegal the agreement between state and Chicago leaders on airport expansion. The suit, which will go forward as the city appeals the ruling, is expected back before the judge next month.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Nicklin argued that the language in the order is too broad and could keep the city from effectively planning the expansion and offering a complete proposal to IDOT for the required approval. The city needs to know what property will be available to keep from submitting a “hypothetical” plan, she said.
But Webster said the city can survey property and contact appraisers as they decide the footprints for new runways.
The judge also heard from attorney John Kincade, who argued that the 17 Bensenville residents in his emergency petition should be allowed to sell their residences. One couple, Pedro and Rosa Rodriguez, have put money down on another house and accepted job transfers to Florida, he said.