Warrenville residents fight property condemnation over Mack Road bike path
Several Warrenville homeowners on Mack Road are concerned about a multiuse path that has officials condemning part of their property.
Dating to a 2015 draft intergovernmental agreement between the city and the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, a 10-foot-wide asphalt path is to be built on the north side of Mack Road from Route 59 east to the McKee Marsh parking lot.
Part of a project that features a new Mack Road Bridge over the West Branch of the DuPage River, the path is intended to connect to existing trails in the Blackwell Forest Preserve.
Initially proposed for the south side of the road under former Mayor David Brummel in May 2017, the Warrenville City Council approved the path on the north side.
Six properties are affected, five owned privately and one by DuPage County as a flood plain easement.
On April 7, 2025, the Warrenville City Council voted 6-2 to approve an ordinance that would acquire easements on four properties, whose owners oppose the right of way.
One of them, Pam Spevak, said because her 70-year-old home is in a flood plain, an easement of up to 85 feet will be required to create water remediation features.
Construction could last up to five years.
Earlier this month she received notice of a condemnation suit in the 18th Judicial Court. She and three affected homeowners intend to fight it.
“I ask people, would you give up 85 feet of your property and be liable when there’s public land right across (the) street?” said Spevak, who circulated a petition on Change.org that has gathered more than 700 signatures.
Neighbor Mitch Adamus also received a summons and must respond by July 18.
While all parties acknowledge safety issues on Mack Road, which only has a soft shoulder on each side, residents predict dangerous encounters between cyclists using the path and homeowners backing out of their driveways.
“If Warrenville really wanted to serve the public the path would be on the south side all the way down to the regional trail” past Williams Road, said Adamus, a Fermilab operations specialist.
Residents also think a public path should be placed on public property. The forest preserve considers that Class IV environmentally sensitive property.
Adamus said the city mows a 20-foot-wide stretch on the south side that could be used for a path that would naturally connect an existing boat launch and a dog park.
“We’re not even asking for the path to be in the Class IV property, we’re asking for it to be between the road and the Class IV property in the mowed, weedy right-of-way,” he said.
Spevak said she’ll lose 15 mature trees due to the easement, among the 45 trees her petition said would be cut down to create the path.
According to the June 2024 “Warrenville Hometown Happenings” newsletter, if the path were built on the south side of Mack Road the project would lose federal funding covering 75% of the roughly $500,000 cost.
Spevak said during the recent mayoral campaign neither Warrenville Mayor Andrew Johnson nor candidate Michael Hoffman supported condemning private property.
Johnson maintains that position but added he could not reverse action taken before he took office.
“I still am not a proponent of condemnation,” Johnson said. “That’s just me, I do not have the authority to wave a magic wand or pen and make a change.”