'Keeping the pressure on': Push to transfer Route 53 right of way for greenway continues
A Lake County advocacy group is working to ensure that land set aside for the now-defunct Route 53 extension is developed as a greenway sooner rather than later.
The Midwest Sustainability Group is seeking funds for a campaign to have the Illinois Department of Transportation transfer a swath of land in central Lake County to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which would preserve it as open space and possibly a state park.
A state task force previously recommended the transfer. But whether or when it happens, and what form the preservation would take, is to be determined.
Midwest Sustainability wants to prime the pump with various activities and outreach. That included collecting about 400 signatures during last month's Lake County Fair on a petition asking Gov. J.B. Pritzker and elected officials to have the property transferred to "relevant conservation agencies," said Barbara Klipp, the group's executive director.
"There's overwhelming support in the area," she said. "We just want to keep the momentum going."
Klipp is seeking $50,000 from the villages of Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods to organize stakeholders, host events, conduct corridor tours and engage the public in support of a Route 53 greenway. She is scheduled to pitch the Long Grove village board Tuesday.
The next step would be to find the $1 million that the IDNR and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning say is needed to hire staff members and planners to develop a plan for a state park and nature trail, Klipp said. The IDNR won't consider accepting the property until a plan is in place, officials have said.
A public-relations campaign to compel Pritzker and/or the General Assembly to complete the land transfer also would be part of the effort.
"We're still keeping the pressure on," Klipp said.
The 13-mile corridor encompasses about 1,100 acres from Lake-Cook Road in Long Grove to Route 120 in Grayslake. It was acquired by IDOT over 48 years as the state considered extending Route 53 north. Those plans were formally dropped in 2019.
The state's Route 53 Land Expansion Alternative Use Task Force recommended the greenway in December. IDOT, however, has cautioned that a transfer could hamstring future road projects.
In March, the Lake County Board overwhelmingly endorsed a plan to preserve the land as an open space corridor, a move some described as the opportunity of a lifetime. But a state budget amendment supported by local legislators at the end of the last General Assembly session didn't make the cut.
Klipp said her group feels there is a "sense of urgency" to get the land transfer completed.