Rt. 53 shenanigans

Originally published August 3, 2018. From the archive of our earlier website. A good example of why reading the fine print matters; see Advocacy 101.

The last public meeting we alerted you all to about Rt. 53 (in Lakemoor on 7/25) turned out to be part of the formal “scoping” for the Rt. 53 Environmental Impact Study, though they kept that quite a secret.

The formal process begins with what they call a “Notice of Intent” in the Federal Register. As of last spring, when they began the “Tri-County Access Stakeholder Group” meetings, they had not yet filed this notice. When we asked why, they said that, with the new update to the federal law, they only had 2 years to complete the study once they filed the notice and they thought they needed much more time than that. When we attended the public meeting last week, we just happened to ask a tollway representative when they planned to file that notice and begin the formal process, and they told us that they had filed the notice a few weeks prior.

We managed to find it despite the fact that it does not mention “Rt 53” or the “Tri County Access Project”: Environmental Impact Statement: Lake, Cook, and McHenry Counties, Illinois (Federal Register, July 16, 2018). It turns out we were in a formal public comment period for the study and no one, including the identified stakeholder group (the Tri-County Access Stakeholder Working Group), knew about it. If we hadn’t happened to ask, it’s likely that the formal comment period could have come and gone and no one would have known.

We reported it to our environmental coalition, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center drafted a letter with references to the federal law violations. Our organization, as well as the Liberty Prairie Foundation, Openlands (which now encompasses Conserve Lake County), the League of Women Voters of Lake County, Lake County Audubon, the Metropolitan Planning Council, the Active Transportation Alliance and the Center for Neighborhood Technology all signed on along with other environmental organizations. Here is the sign-on letter and Crain’s coverage of the letter. The tollway agreed to extend the public comment period to 9/30/18.

Ever vigilant,
Barbara Klipp
Executive Director, Midwest Sustainability Group