What will happen to land planned for Route 53 extension? A task force could decide its fate

What is to be done with the $54 million in land amassed over decades for the now-defunct northward extension of Route 53 might be decided by a 19-person task force proposed by two suburban state lawmakers.

State Reps. Daniel Didech, a Buffalo Grove Democrat, and Chris Bos, a Lake Zurich Republican, joined forces on House Joint Resolution 0006, which passed through the House Transportation committee this week. The resolution calling for a task force now goes to the House floor.

Didech and Bos said the formation of a task force, which aims to find a solution to the decades-old debate around the state-owned property, has been a long time coming. After a half-century of on again, off again state planning for Route 53's extension into Lake County, the Illinois tollway dropped the project in 2019, citing cost and a lack of support from Lake County officials.

“Whether you think the highway is a good idea or a bad idea, the reality is there's not going to be a highway,” Didech said. “Given that reality there is a local bipartisan consensus that we need to figure out what to actually do with this significant piece of land.”

“It's been a long, controversial topic and I think we have reached a point of no return with the extension of Route 53,” Bos said. “But now we have those same entities who should all have a voice in what happens with that property that was acquired. It would be great if we could come to a somewhat consensus of how we should operate and what we should do in order to move that project forward for the benefit of our communities, residents and those that live along that corridor.”

IDOT spent $54.3 million over 48 years acquiring land for the highway.

Didech said his main concern with the land is mitigating flood risks for the region and preserving wetlands, forests and wildlife areas. Bos agreed, saying the open spaces and wildlife are a part of preserving the “heart” of the communities in the area. Both Bos and Didech said some of the land could be sold for residential or commercial development.

“The point of the task force in my mind is to figure out what that balance is and how do we find that balance,” Bos said. “We're not going to make everyone happy, we can't, that's impossible. I would love to see (an idea) that has a broad base of support to move forward.”

The mayors of Long Grove, Mundelein, Hawthorn Woods and Grayslake — towns along the right of way — will all be invited to sit on the task force. The task force would meet four times and make its recommendations to the General Assembly before Dec. 31, 2022.

Long Grove mayor Bill Jacob said preservation of the wetlands and “pristine nature areas” is key, but he also would like to strike a balance with potential commercial or real estate development on the land. He said ideally a bike path or trail would be created that could connect neighborhoods within Long Grove and beyond.

Jacob's plan would use land in the northern section of Long Grove, near Route 83 and Midlothian Road, for commercial development, while preserving other natural areas.

”There are some pristine wetlands that go through there and it's beautiful, it's just gorgeous, and it would be just devastating to take that out to build a road,” Jacob said. “But there has to be balance.”

Grayslake Mayor Rhett Taylor said his main concern is going to be making sure that there is “zero negative impact to our residents and their quality of life.”

“It's a very large swath of land and the advantage to open land and preserving the environment is you don't get any more of it,” Taylor said. “That stated, Illinois, Lake County in particular, has a very high property tax burden, so the more you could diversify the property tax base the better if you could use it to attract some economic development, the better. It becomes a balancing act between prioritization of open space, like 50 to 75 percent, and then maybe commercial development where it makes sense from a zoning perspective.”

Joining the lawmakers and mayors on the task force would be the Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources, the Secretary of Transportation, a representative from the Lake County Board appointed by the board chair, the Director of the Illinois EPA or a respective designee from each office. The lawmakers on the task force will also select representatives from local sustainability, livability, environmental and tourism organizations. The Lake County Forest Preserves would also have a member on the task force nominated by its president.