Pingree Grove residents want rough Elgin gravel road paved

At a party about three weeks ago hosted by Frank and Raina White of Pingree Grove, the hot topic of conversation was ... a gravel, bumpy road.

The Whites live in The Shores subdivision just north of an unpaved stretch of Highland Avenue between Reinking and Damisch roads in Elgin. "The GPS always takes people on Highland," Frank White said. "People were talking to each other and it was like, 'Oh my gosh, you had to take that road too?' It became the topic of the party."

The half-mile stretch is so bad that two years ago his wife's car suffered $150 in damages to the alignment, Frank White said. "When moving in 2008, if I had known in 2015 that there was no end in sight, it might have influenced my buying decision."

But the city of Elgin has no plans to repave or rebuild the road - and Elgin also prevented Pingree Grove from doing so a few years ago, Pingree Grove officials said.

Pingree Grove Village President Greg Marston said that years ago, about two-thirds of that stretch of Highland Avenue used to be part of the village and the remaining one-third was Elgin's. "We said (to Elgin), 'Give us the land and we'll build the road,'" he said. "Elgin said 'no.'"

Elgin instead ended up taking jurisdiction of the road in an agreement approved by Pingree Grove in October 2013. Elgin Corporation Counsel Bill Cogley wasn't immediately available for comment.

The road is supposed to be built by Shodeen Homes of Geneva as part of its planned Pingree Creek development just to the south in Elgin, but those plans have been on hold, Elgin Director of Public Services Greg Rokos said.

Shodeen President David Patzelt said nothing will move forward for at least two years. "Everything is market driven," he said. "The housing market is rebounding and we're going to continue to watch it."

The project would cost millions, partly because an old, broken road lies underneath the gravel, Rokos said. "I know people want it paved but we don't have it (budgeted) in our capital fund right now."

Under the agreement, Elgin has to grade the road twice a year, which most recently happened in the last week or so, Rokos said.

Still, it doesn't take long for conditions to worsen, said resident Maria Mayer, who lives near the subdivision's entrance off Highland Avenue. "It's already deteriorating," she said. "My mother-in-law called to complain, but that's just the way it is."

Resident Mary Hargu, who also lives by that entrance, said she's forced to drive through the entire subdivision - a 2-mile detour - when the road gets too bad. "I would very much like them to pave it," she said.

The Shores was built by developer D.R. Horton, which took care of improving Reinking Road, village officials said.

It's frustrating to see so many players involved and nothing getting done, Frank White said.

"It seems to be that there's enough blame to go around between two villages, Elgin and Pingree Grove, and between two different builders - and it seems that no one cares."