Boarded-up houses owned by the state but not occupied nor slated for demolition on Illinois Highway 53 near the Morton Arboretum “make the neighborhood look crummy,” said Valley View subdivision resident Ina Konsoer, who helps head the homeowners’ association.
State officials have targeted the stretch of road for improvement, but have no funds for the project.
In the late 1990s, DuPage County officials, armed with federal funds, bought out 47 houses in the flood-prone subdivision of 580 homes. Many of those houses were along Route 53 and were demolished, with the land lying fallow.
About a decade ago, Illinois Department of Transportation officials began exploring the possibility of elevating Route 53 as much as five feet as a flood control measure. Such a configuration could involve moving the roadway west, likely utilizing the sites of some of the demolished homes.
In anticipation of the project, the state has acquired nine properties along Route 53 in the past seven years, said IDOT spokeswoman Gianna Urgo, who noted that the expenditures were made “under previous (gubernatorial) administrations.” Among those properties were the few houses on, and adjoining, Route 53 whose owners did not pursue buyout offers in the late 1990s.
The three boarded-up houses were purchased by IDOT in 2014. The state paid $258,000 for the house at 3S430 Tamarack Drive, $235,000 for the home at 22W410 Route 53 and $210,000 for the house at 22W416 Route 53, according to public records.
The total estimated cost to improve Route 53 between Butterfield Road and Park Boulevard is $28.9 million, Urgo said. But with a mounting budget crisis, the project’s prospects have dimmed.
“Funding for the improvements along Illinois Route 53 from south of Illinois Route 56 to Park (Boulevard) is not included in our current multi-year program,” she said. “The project could potentially be included in our priorities for future funding consideration.”
Meanwhile, the houses sit vacant. Urgo said the state “likely” will tear down the houses later this year, but she didn’t specify a potential date.
Konsoer said state officials previously have told Valley View residents that IDOT doesn’t favor razing one house at a time and instead finds it more cost-effective to demolish several at once.
“Our question is, how many more (homes) do we have to wait for?” Konsoer said. “We’re trying to put pressure on (the state). In the past, some of the houses that have been vacant, kids have been found vandalizing and going inside and all that kind of stuff.”
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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