Kendall County Times

Kendall County Highway Committee met May 13.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

MEMBERS PRESENT: Jason Peterson, Dan Koukol, and Scott Gengler

STAFF PRESENT: Michele Riley and Francis Klaas

ALSO PRESENT: PJ Fitzpatrick and Dan Kramer

The committee meeting convened at 3:32 P.M. with roll call of committee members. Bachmann and Shanley absent. Quorum established.

Motion Koukol; second Gengler, to approve the agenda. Motion approved unanimously.

Motion Gengler; second Koukol, to approve the Highway Committee minutes from April 8, 2025. Motion approved unanimously.

Motion Koukol; second Gengler to recommend approval of an Ordinance Granting Variance to the Kendall County Highway Access Regulation Ordinance – Cannonball Trail. Attorney Dan Kramer, on behalf of Caleb Smith, petitioned the Committee for a single, full access to Cannonball Trail to serve two residential lots. The property is in the City of Yorkville, but access is to the County Highway. Koukol asked if the houses would be built right away. Kramer thought that one would be built soon and the other was undetermined. Koukol also asked what the current taxes were on the property. Kramer indicated that the property was currently zoned ag, and so taxes were only a couple hundred dollars. He thought that each new home would have total property taxes around $15,000. Koukol was supportive just for the increased taxes that would be collected. Klaas added that the proposed access was consistent with other residential accesses in the area. Motion approved unanimously by voice vote.

Motion Koukol; second Gengler to recommend approval of an Ordinance Granting Variance to the Kendall County Highway Access Regulation Ordinance – Plainfield Road. Klaas provided some background on the proposed project. He discussed the nearly 20-year old plat for Stone Hill Plaza that provided a joint access easement to Plainfield Road, about 500’ north of Woolley Road. Koukol thought that the Village of Oswego had just turned down a petition for a gas station somewhere and thought that it might have been at this location. Koukol was concerned about all the traffic at this location, including pedestrians. Klaas indicated that there would have to be full access on either Woolley Road or Plainfield Road in order to make this lot viable. The problem with Woolley Road access is that it is so close to Plainfield Road that it would not be very functional. Klaas also discussed the rear access easement that would serve the other lots along Plainfield Road. Koukol asked how long the Highway Department had been working with the petitioner. Klaas and Riley thought it was about a month or 6 weeks. Koukol wondered what the Village’s stance was on development of this lot. Klaas indicated that regardless off what the use was for this lot, he was supportive of the full access on Plainfield, mainly due to the platted easement and circulation of traffic for all the lots in this area. Koukol maintained his concern with traffic if this variance was approved. Peterson again asked what Oswego is saying about this lot. Klaas did not know. He was only working with the petitioner for access to Plainfield Road. Peterson and Klaas then discussed the proposed right and left turn lanes for this lot. Koukol asked if the developer would pay for the turn lanes. Klaas stated that they would. Koukol wanted to know where Oswego was at with this project. Peterson agreed. Gengler liked the proposed access plan because of how the back easement would be served by the proposed full access and then no other accesses would be allowed along Plainfield Road. Gengler pointed out that if the County denied access on Plainfield there would then be no practical way to develop that lot. Peterson and Gengler were generally supportive of the access variance, while Koukol wanted more information first from the Village. Klaas stated that he could contact the Village prior to the County Board meeting to get additional information on this project. Gengler thought that would be fine and recommended that this item not be placed on the consent agenda. By voice vote, Peterson and Gengler voted yes on the motion. Koukol voted no. Variance Ordinance will be forwarded to the County Board for consideration.

Motion Gengler; second Koukol to recommend approval of a resolution authorizing the use of eminent domain to acquire certain parcels of land for roadway purposes along Ridge Road between Holt Road and Black Road in Kendall County, Illinois. Klaas discussed the project and described the proposed resolution as mostly a timing thing. Due to some of the delays in the surveying and appraisals, there is precious little time to acquire all the necessary parcels prior to going to letting in the spring of 2026. Even though there are 18 property owners on the list for eminent domain, there are only 2 parcels that are being recommended for eminent domain. But the other parcels are included, just in case, so Highway Department does need to come back to the Board for potential requests at a later date. Klaas pointed out that a similar resolution was used on Eldamain Road, and of the 40-some parcels acquired, there was only one or two that were actually filed. He thought this was the easiest, cleanest way to do it. Peterson confirmed that this was for the Ridge Road widening from Holt Road to Black Road. He asked if this was for a substantial amount of land. Klaas pointed to a schedule in the packet that listed all the properties to be acquired. Many were very small parcels, except for the farm parcels that had a lot of frontage. Peterson also asked if the property owners were aware of this situation. Klaas indicated that all property owners were notified of public hearings and had been sent correspondence and county appraisals. He reemphasized that this is simply authorization to use eminent domain and doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to file. Committee members looked at some of the parcels on a strip map and discussed ownership. Upon further consideration, motion was approved unanimously by voice vote.

Gengler asked how the County chooses the land negotiator. Klaas reminded the Committee that the County Board approved a contract with Mark Mathewson to provide all land acquisition services on this project. Klaas indicated that the County has used Mathewson on all the big County projects. He has extensive experience, having acquired thousands of parcels for different clients. He is also an attorney, is very sharp, and is a great land negotiator. Klaas named multiple projects for which the County has used Mathewson.

Klaas provided an update on engineering projects in the Multi-Year Plan. He stated that Hutchison will be providing an agreement to the Committee in June for the Ridge Road – Caton Farm to Plainfield Project. He also recommended that the Committee move forward with engineering for an intersection improvement at the Galena-Little Rock intersection, and also for a 3-lane improvement on Galena from Eldamain Road to Ill. Rte. 47. He recommended hiring HR Green for the projects on Galena Road. He felt the Galena 3-lane project was a higher priority than the intersection improvement at Galena – Rock Creek intersection because of the proposed data centers along Galena Road. The data centers can’t condemn land for roadway improvements and the data centers don’t own all the parcels along Galena. He recommended pushing the Galena-Rock Creek project further back in the Multi-Year Plan.

Koukol asked what Klaas thought about the data center’s impact. Klaas didn’t think that all the data centers would get built but thought it would be best to be prepared. He discussed the recent study prepared by Engineering Enterprises for Galena Road. They (EEI) had determined that a 3-lane facility was sufficient for Galena Road between Ill. Rte. 47 and Orchard Road for the foreseeable future. Klaas indicated that there has always been less traffic on Galena west of Route 47; so if a 3-lane facility was sufficient east of Route 47, then a 3-lane facility should be sufficient west of Route 47. Both Koukol and Gengler expressed some concern about whether a 4-lane facility on Galena Road would be needed. Klaas stated that if a 4-lane facility was built, it would likely require acquisition of some homes on the south side of Galena. He also pointed out that EEI had gotten future traffic numbers from CMAP, who are supposedly the experts in traffic projections. Koukol asked about wide loads and farm equipment. Klaas stated that the 3-lane would include 12’ through lanes, a 14’-wide bidirectional left turn lane, as well as 4’ asphalt and 4’ aggregate shoulders. Peterson asked if the middle lane would be a parkway lane. Klaas said that it would be a flush middle lane.

Koukol asked about the status of the Route 47 improvements. No one knew the exact status. PJ Fitzpatrick thought that negotiations with the railroad in Sugar Grove were holding up the project. Koukol was concerned that our Galena project might actually get done quicker than the Route 47 improvement. Klaas stated that, assuming Route 47 gets completed, the Galena project would be a very simple, 2-mile improvement that would tie into the turn lanes at Eldamain and the turn lanes at Route 47… so Galena widening work would not need to get into the two intersections. Koukol asked what impact the Galena project would have on the County’s KAT building site. Klaas stated that there are two access points on the property. The east one will be eliminated because it conflicts with the Route 47 improvements. The west one will remain and will be full access.

Koukol again expressed his concern about whether Galena should be 3-lane or 4-lane. Klaas thought there was a higher probability for needing a 4-lane east of Route 47 as opposed to west of Route 47. Gengler asked about the Galena-Route 47 turn lanes. Klaas stated that there would be 4 lanes on the west leg of the intersection; one westbound and three eastbound. The eastbound lanes would include a left turn lane, a thru lane, and a right turn lane. It would essentially have the same layout as the Galena-Eldamain intersection, which makes tying into it with a 3-lane improvement very easy. Koukol asked if we had money for all these projects. Klaas said that there was engineering money in the budget and that he was asking the data centers for $4 million for widening Galena Road. He had told both Yorkville and the developers of this request. Gengler asked how Klaas had come up with $4 million. Klaas stated that he had prepared an engineer’s estimate of cost. He indicated that the estimate was about $3 million for construction and about $1 million for land acquisition. Koukol asked if the request might hinder the development of these data centers. Klaas didn’t think so as the projects are anticipating hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses. He also thought that by getting the engineering going right away, it would indicate to the data centers that the County is willing to partner with them to get the projects completed. Gengler was okay with asking for more, if necessary.

Motion Gengler; second Koukol, to forward Highway Department bills for the month of May in the amount of $389,741.52 to the Finance Committee for approval. Motion approved unanimously.

Motion Gengler; second Koukol to adjourn the meeting at 4:18 PM. Motion carried unanimously.

https://www.kendallcountyil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/33090