Roselle, Itasca pledge $100,000 each to ComEd fight
The villages of Roselle and Itasca have joined neighbors Schaumburg, Hanover Park and Elk Grove Village in committing $100,000 each to oppose ComEd's proposal to run overhead power lines along the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway.
ComEd officials recently announced they would delay filing plans for their proposed West Central Reliability Project with the Illinois Commerce Commission for at least six months in order to continue discussions with residents and officials in the affected communities.
Nevertheless, leaders of the five towns said the basics of the project they're opposing - a nine-mile route featuring steel poles 140 to 170 feet tall - don't appear to have changed.
"We're part of the group and we support our neighbors - as well as ourselves - on this," Itasca Village Administrator Evan Teich said Wednesday.
The ComEd proposal continues to inspire great interest and concern, Teich said, with about 120 people attending a community information meeting Tuesday in the village.
On Monday, nearly 400 people attended a similar meeting hosted by the Roselle village board.
ComEd spokeswoman Liz Keating has previously said the project is intended to improve reliability for more than 100,000 customers in nine communities served by the Bartlett substation. The new lines would provide a backup electricity route between substations in Bartlett and Itasca.
The communities opposed to the project say their residents and properly values would be harmed by the presence of the poles while not receiving any benefit from them. They want ComEd to bury the lines.
Schaumburg Village Manager Brian Townsend said cost estimates of burying the lines are as much as 10 times more than the $50 million to $60 million the project already is expected to cost.
ComEd officials say the law requires them to go with the most cost-effective option - in this case, the overhead lines.
The money being committed to oppose the project by the five neighboring villages could be used for public relations, lobbying, expert testimony and legal fees, Townsend said.