Respect property owners when extending path

Posted June 04, 2025 9:47 am

At their April 7 council meeting, the City Council of Warrenville voted to initiate eminent domain to acquire private residential properties. This acquisition aims to construct a multiuse path along Mack Road extending across multiple private driveways to connect with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County’s existing trail at McKee Marsh.

The forest district and city council both have discussed an Intergovernmental Agreement for trail projects, covering designing, funding and maintaining three trails. A similar agreement would avoid costly eminent domain, preserve private property and create a trail on the south side of Mack Road on forest preserve property.

A 2016 forest preserve resolution addressed the Mack Road trail, involving an agreement between Warrenville and the FPDDC that stipulated the path would be constructed on forest preserve property to avoid affecting residential properties. Why was this decision reversed?

A recent new trail at the Cromwell Drive/Butterfield Road intersection was specifically built on forest preserve land to give north-side Butterfield Road residents safe access to Danada and Herrick Lake forest preserve trails. Why isn’t the FPDDC providing similar access for residents west of Route 59 to McKee Marsh and Blackwell?

The DuPage County forest preserves and trails offer exceptional outdoor experiences for all visitors. A recent election demonstrated clear voter support for the FPDDC tax-increasing referendum, likely in part due to the forest preserve’s long-standing collaboration with local governments to enhance the environment.

The question remains why the path must be on the north side of Mack Road, affecting several family homes, when space is clearly available on the south side public lands controlled by the FPDDC. With new officials in office residents hope that common sense prevails, costly legal action can be avoided, FPDDC and the city can negotiate an IGA and homeowner’s properties preserved.

Rose Kuntze

Unincorporated Winfield

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