Elburn won't fund interchange study

Worries over the impact of additional traffic and development led Elburn to opt out of funding a portion of a proposed study on the completion of a tollway interchange at Interstate 88 and Route 47.

The study would examine the feasibility of adding an eastbound on-ramp and a westbound off-ramp to the I-88 interchange in Sugar Grove. Currently, there is neither.

Sugar Grove had been considering asking Elburn and Kaneville to contribute toward the study's $196,000 price tag.

At Monday's village board meeting, Elburn Village President James Willey expressed concern over the type of development that would accompany the completion of the interchange.

"Our concern is that this is going to take an area that is better suited to county development at a density of one unit per acre and drives it up to a municipal density of three units an acre," Willey said. "It's going to create a mini town."

Willey cited the fact that $50,000 of the study's cost will be paid for by Crown Community Development, which has proposed a 790-acre mixed-use development plan for the interchange area.

"Wastewater services will have to be extended further north, underneath I-88. They will not undertake a development project like this without significant density," Willey stated.

Trustee William Grabarek downplayed Sugar Grove's claim that the increased tollway access would benefit residents of Elburn and Kaneville.

"I think it will bring a lot more truck traffic, which is a problem. The through traffic and truck traffic will create greater tie-ups while we are paying for what Sugar Grove wants to do," Grabarek said.

Elburn has agreed to furnish Sugar Grove with the results of its traffic studies, which were completed in 2005.