Schaumburg says 'yes' to tollway soundwall

Schaumburg officials are following the lead of an apartment complex in Rolling Meadows by requesting the installation of a soundwall for one of their own complexes on the north side of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway.

The proposed wall, to be paid for by the Illinois Tollway, would begin immediately west of the Route 53 overpass and end at the eastern border of the Schaumburg Convention Center and Renaissance Hotel property.

But to maintain visibility of the convention center, Schaumburg officials are asking tollway authorities to end the wall 100 feet east of where it was originally intended to stop, as well as to gradually lower the heights of the last three or four panels before the convention center.

This request was recommended by Schaumburg's engineering and public works committee Thursday and will be voted on by the full village board on Tuesday, June 23.

Until recently, it appeared that all parties had declined the tollway's invitation to build such a soundwall. But then the management of The Apartments at Woodfield Crossing in Rolling Meadows - independent of the city of Rolling Meadows - reached out to the tollway to request the wall after all.

"It was the Rolling Meadows part that prompted it to be revisited," Schaumburg Engineering & Public Works Director David Lawry said.

Schaumburg's stretch of the wall will shield the Fieldpointe of Schaumburg apartment complex, which lies between The Apartments at Woodfield Crossing and the Schaumburg Convention Center.

Though the Fieldpointe property is residential now, Schaumburg officials have noted in long-range plans that if the land were redeveloped, the preference is for office buildings that could exceed 15 stories.

If such a project were developed and the property owner wanted to increase its visibility, the responsibility and cost of removing the soundwall would fall to either the village or property owner.

Assistant Village Manager Paula Hewson said no decisions have yet been made on how any cost-sharing for the wall's removal would be handled.

The soundwall is expected to be built in conjunction with a new Meacham Road interchange ramp just west of it.