Hanover Park adds another $100K to fight against Elgin-O'Hare power lines
Hanover Park is contributing $100,000 to the fight against the overhead power lines ComEd wants along the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway.
Hanover Park now joins Schaumburg and Elk Grove Village in putting money into stopping the power lines, which would be on 140- to 170-foot steel poles dotting the expressway between Bartlett and Itasca.
ComEd says the project is needed to increase power reliability for thousands of customers served by a Bartlett substation - which at present is serviced by a single line on wood poles.
Leaders in Hanover Park, Roselle, Schaumburg and Itasca have been working since December to develop a plan that would keep the "unsightly" poles away from their municipalities.
"We're trying to stay in an open conversation with ComEd to find an alternative to putting big poles up," Hanover Park Village President Rod Craig said. "I don't know what the solution is, but we're going to do everything we can to find it."
Craig says he wishes ComEd would have "come to the table" with its plans earlier.
Hanover Park Village Manager Juliana Maller says the village's $100,000 contribution would likely come from money set aside for capital projects - which includes tearing down a building, and redesigning and rebuilding the planters on Lake Street. Both capital projects are eligible for tax increment financing.
However, she said while Hanover Park is making $100,000 available to fight the power lines, it's unlikely all $100,000 will be spent.
The money being amassed by the municipalities likely will be spent on public relations, lobbying, legal fees, consultants and expert testimony, Schaumburg Village Manager Brian Townsend said earlier this month.
The proposed power lines are projected to cost $55 million to $65 million and would back up the existing lines.