Skyline Drive in Batavia remains dead end for now

Skyline Drive in Batavia comes to an abrupt halt south of Hansford Avenue.

The road ends at a shabby fence, even though there’s an opening for pedestrians. But Skyline continues on the other side of more than 200 feet of land with trees and bushes.

Having a dead end on Skyline is the way local residents, including David Carney, want it.

“It’s a road that is really used by a lot of pedestrians, and there’s no real way to put sidewalks in that area,” Carney said. “A lot of kids use it to go to the park, Clover Hills Park. It does not have any lighting.”

That 214 feet of would-be road was the subject of a court battle, stemming from the Batavia City Council’s approval of an ordinance in May 2023 to annex that section of the Skyline Drive right-of-way in unincorporated Geneva Township.

The idea was to have the city control the road and future improvements. At some point, it would build a through road that would connect both sides of Skyline.

But in April 2024, Geneva Township Highway Commissioner Michael Abts filed a lawsuit. The court filing claimed that connecting Skyline would create a cut-through that would “increase traffic and create safety hazards for the residents,” among other reasons.

Abts asked a judge to declare the annexation invalid, asserting that Batavia lacked authority to annex it and that the annexation would affect the road district’s ability to provide proper snowplow maintenance.

However, Kane County Judge John Dalton granted Batavia’s motion to dismiss the suit. In August, the Second District Appellate Court in Elgin upheld the dismissal.

Abts did not return a voicemail and email seeking comment.

The fact that two segments of Skyline are not connected goes back decades, said Scott Buening, Batavia community and economic development director.

“The southern part was built in the late 1960s, early 1970s,” Buening said. “It was a dead-end township road.”

In 2000, the Windemere Subdivision was built to the north, he said.

“We built up to the city line at the time. Skyline Drive to the south didn’t quite get to the road, and residents didn’t want them connected,” Buening said.

Batavia officials wanted to be sure the 200-plus feet south of the dead end was under the city’s jurisdiction, Buening said, which is why it took the step of annexation.

Connecting the two sides by building a through-road would cost about $100,000, he said.

“Maybe someday, but not right now,” Buening said. “It’s not an urgent matter.”