Kendall County Board OKs eminent domain for Eldamain Road project

The Kendall County Board voted 5-1 Tuesday morning, Oct. 16, to authorize the taking of five parcels of property as part of the Eldamain Road extension and future bridge over the Fox River project.

Board Chairman Scott Gryder and board members Robert "H.D." Davidson, Matthew Prochaska, Audra Hendrix, and Judy Gilmour voted in favor of authorizing the use of eminent domain to purchase the properties, while board member John Purcell voted no.

Board members Elizabeth Flowers, Matt Kellogg, Lynn Cullick, and Tony Giles were absent from Tuesday's meeting.

The county has planned to link Eldamain Road, which runs along the boundary between Yorkville and Plano, from Route 34 south over the Fox River to an area just south of Route 71, for many years. Contractors for the county are currently working on widening a portion of the road from just south of Route 34 to River Road. The future plan for the road includes a new bridge across the Fox River costing upwards of $20 million.

Two of the larger parcels to be obtained via eminent domain are a property owned by Wayne Borneman just west of Hoover Forest Preserve and a property owned by Neil Borneman near the intersection of Route 71 and Budd Road, County Engineer Fran Klaas said.

Klaas said there are three other smaller parcels that will be claimed via eminent domain.

According to the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, eminent domain "is the inherent power of a state to take or damage private property for a public use. In Illinois, it is subject to the constitutional limitation that, 'Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation as provided by law.'"

Klaas said officials have been negotiating with the landowners for the past two years and that the five parcels are the last remaining among the 47 total parcels of land needed for the project that need to be acquired.

Klaas said the county is pursuing a U.S. Department of Transportation BUILD grant for the project, and that it's necessary to have the pieces in place before seeking funding.

"It would be pretty hard to justify asking the federal government for $20 million if we haven't acquired the land for the project," he said. "It's our belief that pursuing all of the land acquisition, finishing all of the engineering, and getting a project that is shovel-ready is extremely important in order to get the necessary state and federal money for the project."

Gilmour asked if not acquiring the parcels would impact or hold up the project. Klaas said the county has spent a lot of time and money on the project already.

"The county has spent decades working on this corridor and spent tens of millions of dollars building and developing the corridor, so to stop now would be kind of silly," Klaas said.

Gryder asked about the time frame and funding for the project.

Klaas said that "in a perfect world," the county would be able to get a federal grant that would pay "maybe up to 50 to 60 percent of the cost of that project." However, he said the project could be broken up into multiple pieces for funding.

"If we are not successful in getting that big block of money, that $20 million, it's very likely that we could break the project up into additional pieces and try to fund them with smaller pots of money," Klaas said. "I think this project could probably be broken up into maybe three pieces: an intersection improvement at Route 71, a roadway segment from Route 71 to the Fox River, and then the actual Fox River bridge."

Klaas said he doesn't "know exactly when" the county would build the bridge or the leg of the project south of the Fox River, but that they are pursuing funding. Just the bridge is supposed to cost about $20 million, Klaas said. The additional improvements would total another $20 million, approximately, he said.

"We're going to continue to pursue all possible avenues for the money, whether that's federal money, whether it's part of the state capital improvement (program)," he said.