Residents oppose Buffalo Grove road plan

Some residents near Buffalo Grove's Weiland Road and Lake-Cook Road corridors continue to object to the $100 million plan to widen the thoroughfares and make other improvements aimed at freeing congestion in the area.

Critics of the plan attended a public hearing Wednesday at Aptakisic Junior High School to view the latest design of the project, which includes widening Weiland from two to four lanes between Lake-Cook and Aptakisic roads, and widening Lake-Cook from Hastings Lane to Raupp Boulevard from four lanes to six lanes.

The plan also includes bicycle lanes, two noise walls to reduce the impact on adjacent neighborhoods and a new connector between Weiland and Prairie roads, north of Aptakisic.

Among the critics were sisters Angie and Daisy Segur, who say their home on Aptakisic is one of eight properties — seven of them residential — facing potential condemnation to make way for the connector.

“I'm going to lose my home,” Angie Segura said. “I just bought it four years ago, and no one told me that the county was going to take over it.”

Also at the hearing was Margaret Becker, whose father stands to lose his home.

“He's a 92-year-old World War II (veteran) and he has lived there for 65 years, and I don't want him to get stressed out about this,” she said. “We want him to be fairly treated and relocated.”

Buffalo Grove Village President Jeffrey Braiman said officials have tried to accommodate residents, even asking engineers to move the curve of the connector further south.

The final decision rests with county, state and state authorities who will put up the bulk of the funding. If those agencies choose to walk away from the project, it would be the village's responsibility to fund it, Braiman said.

“I think there is no question in my mind that Weiland Road as it is constructed is failing, and it is only going to get worse,” he added. “The question is whether we do it under county or federal standards similar to Deerfield Parkway. It would be foolish to spend money on an improvement that does not significantly improve the problem.”

Village documents state that negotiations for property acquisition won't begin until after final design approval, expected in March 2014. Documents say property owners will receive “just compensation” defined as “fair market value for property taken.”

Besides costing residents their homes, critics say the connector will not address problems in the area, but instead run traffic through a residential area.

Residents, joined by Buffalo Grove Trustee Andrew Stein, said an alternative to the connector involving the widening of Aptakisic Road between Prairie and Weiland and improving the intersections of Aptakisic/Prairie and Aptakisic/Weiland would be preferable.

“The results can be achieved without having to build a connector from Weiland to Prairie by going through residential areas,” Stein said. “I'm just not understanding why that option wasn't done.”

“You would see an improved level of service, you take less property (and) it requires no taking of homes or business,” resident Marge Foss added.

Officials say that because the project's cost and funding uncertainties the work probably will be done in phases over several years.