Kane Co. traffic court might be headed to St. Charles

The Kane County Board may have solved three problems Tuesday by voting to purchase the old Montgomery Ward building in St. Charles for about $6.5 million.

The fate of the building has been in limbo since the county and the building's owners, New York-based Rockward Associates, failed to agree on a purchase price for the 8.8-acre property. The circuit court clerk's offices are housed in the former retail center at 540 S. Randall Road. Kane County believed the property was worth about $5.8 million. Rockward wanted $13.3 million.

The stalemate led the county to file eminent domain proceedings to try and take the property for public use. Rockward countered by giving the county until the end of year to vacate the property.

The parties found a middle ground closer to where the county stood when Rockward submitted a settlement proposal for about $6.3 million. About $200,000 of legal fees later, the county got its building.

The purchase seems to guarantee the ongoing presence of the circuit court clerk employees at the site. That would not be a particularly welcome outcome for St. Charles officials who have repeatedly said they'd prefer the site revert to a retail use. The building may no longer house a store, but one potential additional use for the property may still generate long lines of customers and heavy traffic for surrounding retail uses.

County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said Tuesday that one popular idea would see the county move traffic court to the property. Traffic court is typically a logistical nightmare at the judicial center with lines of people out the door.

McConnaughay said not only would moving traffic court to St. Charles help that situation, but it would also help solve the space crunch the county faces at the judicial center when it receives three more judges in 2010. Chief Judge F. Keith Brown has already publicly lamented the lack of courtroom space to accommodate those new judges.