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Kane Road on Way to 'Rustic' Status: Scenic Way Targeted for Official Designation

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 09:01 CST

By William Presecky, Chicago Tribune

Mar. 30--Kane County's fourth "rustic road" corridor nomination, a scenic stretch of Pouley Road near Elburn, has begun wending its way through the county's lengthy review process for granting the rare designation.

Based on a favorable staff recommendation and recent endorsement by the County Board's Development and Transportation Committees, the nomination of Pouley, between Keslinger and Hughes Roads, is scheduled to go next to the county's Historic Preservation Commission.

At the commission, it will fall to amenable landowners along the 1.3-mile stretch of gravel, including the Blackberry Creek Development Corp. and the Kane County Forest Preserve District, to prescribe the terms of a voluntary corridor management plan for protecting the country appearance of the road.

A key element of the plan, according to landowner Jan Jorstad, must include prohibiting any new access roads onto Pouley.

For Jorstad, who was instrumental in persuading the county to adopt a rustic roads program--Kane is the only county in Illinois to do so--the Pouley Road nomination has been 20 years in the making, she said.

The entire nomination process, which eventually must obtain County Board approval, is expected to take several months to complete.

Property owners who volunteer to be included in a rustic road corridor establish their own guidelines for its preservation. Once a road is designated for landmark status, any major, visible changes to the participating properties require approval of the county's Historic Preservation Commission.

Only two other, similar road corridors have been approved for the rustic designation. A third nomination, for Ke-De-Ka Road, near Sugar Grove, is still in process, according to county preservation planner Julia Thavong.

The rustic designation is aimed at preserving the scenic areas along Kane's roadways that salute their importance to the county's natural and historic heritage.

Nine of the 10 property owners along the short, narrow stretch of Pouley, in Blackberry Township, have consented in writing to seek the rustic designation.

According to Thavong, the natural features along Pouley Road "include charming views of woodlands and broad swatches of rolling farm fields."

"A significant feature along the road includes historic residences," she said. In combination with the natural elements, Pouley is a good candidate for the designation, Thavong said.

In a formal statement submitted to the county in support of the nomination, Jorstad and fellow Pouley Road neighbor Janine Baumgartner said the road "has resisted change in the past [but] is now under transition that could jeopardize its bucolic charm."

The road is named for Samuel Pouley, an officer in the Blackhawk War whose former estate along the road is part of the original "war settlement" he received from the federal government, according to Baumgartner and Jorstad.

Blackberry Creek Farm, which also borders the road, dates to 1898 and is purported to have been the scene of a gangster-run liquor distillery in the 1920s.

bpresecky@tribune.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune

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Source: Chicago Tribune

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