Officials face allegations of violating Bensenville property restraining order
Less than a day after a DuPage County judge temporarily blocked demolition of Bensenville properties for O'Hare International Airport expansion, Chicago officials face allegations of violating the restraining order.
Construction crews trimmed and cleared trees Thursday morning from at least three properties in the 200 block of Orchard Road near the airport fence.
Bensenville attorney Joseph Karaganis said the heavy equipment used for the clearing damaged property and uprooted soil. DuPage Circuit Judge Kenneth Popejoy told city of Chicago attorneys on Wednesday not to disturb any soil at the site until environmental testing occurs.
"The whole premise of the injunction was based on expert opinion that there may be contamination in the soil," Karaganis said. "Don't disturb the soil until the testing is done, and Chicago proceeded to disturb the hell out of it."
O'Hare Modernization Program Executive Director Rosemarie Andolino said Bensenville is blowing things out of proportion. She said the tree trimming and clearing is comparable to everyday landscaping activities at the airport.
In this case, she said, the trimmings occurred to make expansion property owned by the city more visible to airport security patrolling the fence line and property managers overseeing vacant houses.
"We have every right to be on our property, making sure we provide a secure and safe property," Andolino said. "There are a lot of places that people can wander to, a lot of trees that people can hide behind."
Andolino said plans for further security measures at the 500 parcels Chicago controls are in place, including the installation of fencing. She said fencing could begin as early as today along with more tree clearing.
But first, Popejoy will decide if such activity violates the restraining order he has in place. A hearing is planned for this morning.
Chicago attorneys asked Popejoy for permission to erect fences at the last court hearing on Wednesday. Popejoy refused to give an impromptu ruling at the time.