Legal fight over land settled; Elginroad project on

A $10 million road construction project in Elgin can be finished now that the Kane County Board has settled an eminent domain lawsuit filed against one landowner.

The board Tuesday approved paying $329,978 to Exxon Mobil Oil Corp., the owner of a quarter-acre parcel on McLean Boulevard. The county condemned the property in 2005 after negotiations to purchase the property failed.

The price is within a few thousand dollars of the property's appraised value, county engineer Carl Schoedel told the county board. Exxon Mobil initially asked for $650,000, Schoedel said.

Construction on various aspects of the project, designed to fix a bottleneck at McLean and Bowes Road, has been going on for years.

McLean between Bowes and College Green Drive was widened from two to four lanes in 2003. Widening McLean south of Bowes to Hopps Road/Spring Street has taken considerably longer because of stalled negotiations over right of way.

The project is a collaboration between Kane County, South Elgin, Elgin and the state and federal governments.

Elgin Public Works Director John Loete said he was glad to hear the project is moving forward.

"Our residents will benefit from having the project done as South Elgin residents and anybody else that happens to use that section of McLean," Loete said. "We knew it was going to take a long time and indeed it has."

The project could be completed within the next year or so, Loete said.