"Rep. Jackson regroups Peotone airport panel"

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Rep. Jackson regroups airport panel
By Stanley Ziemba
The Chicago (IL) Tribune


U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) has revised the makeup of a commission
he leads overseeing a proposed airport near Peotone, paving the way for the
group to enter into a lease with Illinois for land being acquired for the
Will County airfield, he said.

In complying with a recommendation from Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan,
the Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission will consist solely of
home-rule municipalities, Jackson said in a prepared statement issued
Wednesday.

Currently made up primarily of Cook County towns, the commission will ask 13
home-rule communities in Will and Kankakee Counties to join it in building
an airfield, Jackson stated.

"We're open for business and eager to secure a long-term land lease from the
state so that this project, so essential to the region's economic
well-being, can move forward quickly," he said.

In an opinion issued in December, Madigan said the commission's contract
with New York-based LCOR Inc. and Canada-based SNC-Lavalin to design and
build an airfield did not comply with Illinois law because some commission
members were not home-rule communities and not exempt from state competitive
bidding rules.

Madigan also stated that Illinois could not transfer land to the commission
without legislative approval, as the panel had hoped. It could, however,
lease the land and enter into a partnership with the commission or any other
group to jointly develop the airport, she said.

"The attorney general gave us a road map, and we followed it," Jackson said.

The towns leaving the commission include Bensenville, which neighbors O'Hare
International Airport, Dixmoor, Flossmoor, Ford Heights, Hazel Crest,
Homewood, Lynwood, Markham, Matteson, Midlothian, Olympia Fields, Phoenix,
Richton Park, Sauk Village, South Chicago Heights and Steger.

Home-rule communities staying in are University Park, Elk Grove Village,
which also adjoins O'Hare, Burnham, Calumet City Calumet Park, Chicago
Heights, Country Club Hills, East Hazel Crest, Glenwood, Harvey, Hopkins
Park, Lansing, Oak Forest, Park Forest, Robbins, South Holland and Thornton.

Under a new agreement, the group's board will have nine members, with at
least five from Will, Jackson said.

Cook County towns will have four board seats initially, then three after an
airport is built, he said. The vacated seat would go to a representative
from a Kankakee County home-rule town.

With the realignment completed, the commission is prepared to begin lease
negotiations with state transportation officials, Jackson said.

To date, the state owns about 1,800 acres of the 4,200 acres in eastern Will
County needed to build an initial airfield, according to the Illinois
Department of Transportation.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has endorsed the commission's airport plan, but it is
unclear if he would enter into a partnership with Jackson's group.

Will County officials, who are at odds with Jackson's group over control of
the airport, want the governor to partner with them.


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