"'Shell bills' provide next step toward third Chicago area airport"

Sunday, March 13, 2005

'Shell bills' provide next step toward Peotone airport 
By Patrick Ferrell 
The Chicago (IL) Daily Southtown


Last week, the Senate Executive Committee passed two so-called "shell bills"
that would dictate how the third airport is built and who would manage it.

Details about how the Peotone-area airport will be built have yet to be
worked out, but getting the bills voted out of committee a week before the
deadline for Senate bills to move to the main floor is a big step forward
for the airport plan, according to Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete), the
bills' sponsor.

The airport "will be built, and now we need to work on a unified plan," said
Halvorson, in whose district the airport's 20,000-acre footprint sits.

Competing plans offered by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd), of Chicago -
a plan endorsed by the governor - and the Will County Board continue to vie
for lawmakers' attention.

State legislation, however, will dictate how the airport is built and
managed. 

The second shell bill - once filled in - will create a development district
around the airport involving the five "Iron Ring" communities of Beecher,
Crete, Monee, Peotone and University Park.

Behind-the-scene negotiations

Jackson's plan calls for the airport to be built by private developers while
Will County argues that plan does not give enough oversight to the county
and the surrounding communities.

Both sides are hashing out their differences, and they have agreed not to
comment on the negotiations publicly.

Halvorson has drafted shell bills regarding the airport in previous
legislative sessions, but none were ever acted on.

Most of the members of the House and Senate's airport subcommittees said
they are in favor of building the Peotone airport.

The Senate committee is chaired by Halvorson while the House committee is
chaired by Rep. David Miller (D-Calumet City).

There could be some wrangling in the Senate side over who eventually sits on
the airport's governing board.

Dave Sullivan (R-Park Ridge) sits on the Senate airport committee.
Sullivan's district includes part of O'Hare International Airport and
neighboring towns Bensenville and Elk Grove Village.

Sullivan said he wants both communities to have input on the south suburban
plan. Both communities are opposing the proposed expansion of O'Hare and
view the south suburban plan as an alternative to the expansion of O'Hare.

Sen. Christine Radogno (R-LaGrange) however, said, "the hardest thing will
be getting Elk Grove Village and Bensenville away from the table."

Radogno said it is likely both communities will lose interest in the south
suburban plan if the O'Hare expansion moves forward at the federal level as
expected.

Quick take vs. eminent domain

Meanwhile, land acquisition efforts continue.

The state now owns about half of the airport's footprint, all land that was
purchased from "willing sellers," said Chris Cochrane, the airport project
officer with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

There are still 57 landowners with whom the state must work.

"We are working on another round of appraisals now and we will make another
round of offers to see if there are any more willing sellers," Cochrane
said.

Halvorson said she supports the use of eminent domain, but she will not
allow the state to use a process called "quick take."

Under that process, owners are paid the market value for their property.
Owners who feel they should receive more are free to challenge the sale in
court, but the state controls the land while the case sits in the courts.

Under traditional eminent domain, the private owner maintains ownership
while the price and other details are haggled in court. That process is less
controversial, but could drag for years in court.

"As long as my residents are against quick take, there will be no quick
take," Halvorson said. "The residents who live in the footprint now should
know there will be a judicious process."

IDOT later this spring will submit the airport's plan to the Federal
Aviation Administration, Cochrane said.

Both Jackson's camp and Will County agree on how the airport's sole runway
would be situated, where the terminal will be located and the location of
the airport itself, Halvorson and Cochrane said.

"That's all the FAA really wants to see," Halvorson said.


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