Although the proposed Prairie Parkway through Chicago’s far western suburbs is years away, it is not too early for policy-makers seeking to develop in the corridor to start a council with legal authority, area officials were told Wednesday.
The impact of the new north-south expressway linking Interstate Highways 88 and 80 would be best controlled by a strong, centralized plan balancing regional interests with local autonomy, Robert Gleeson, director of Northern Illinois University’s Center for Governmental Studies, told members of the DuKane Valley Council.
The prospect of such a road is among several transportation issues the state is studying as a potential guide for meeting the future needs of the fast-growing area.
A state-financed study undertaken by NIU concluded in late 2003 that counties and municipalities should be given greater power to coordinate land-use planning in shared transportation corridors.
Unlike previous corridor-planning councils in Illinois, “What we’re proposing is a corridor council that trumps municipal [and county] zoning,” Gleeson said.
The aim of starting the cooperative process early is for the council to establish its rules before construction and development begins, “before the interests are defined [and] before you know who the winners and losers are,” he said.
“This does not create a controversy-free process. It creates a unified process to deal with controversy,” Gleeson said.
“Whatever the amount of time [before construction begins] it is not too early to pull together a corridor council” with legal authority, Gleeson told the municipal group, noting that no corridor council legislation is pending in Springfield and that road construction in the area is many years away.
“The sooner [the formation of a council] happens, the better chance of success,” he said.
As envisioned under the proposal, tax revenue from development along a new transportation corridor would “get put in a central pot … and the corridor council negotiates how the pot gets distributed.”
The university study began soon after the Prairie Parkway proposal was advanced and a 36-mile corridor was protected by the state to accommodate a new highway.
A January report on the study by the Center for Governmental Studies concluded that “the Prairie Parkway project would provide an optimal opportunity to pilot a planning project” demonstrating how a new corridor council format could work.
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bpresecky@tribune.com
