2 Aggressive Fencers Likely to Battle Over Traffic Fix Philosophies

By Chris Bailey

I could see the sabers glinting in the light as Karen McConnaughay and Ed Schock danced back and forth in a deadly duel over transportation philosophy. In my vision, the confrontation occurred at the $4 million intersection of Randall and Bowes roads at rush hour, a spot that perfectly defines the conflict.

McConnaughay, the Kane County Board chairman, represents county forces promoting a bigger and better Randall Road, and bigger and fairer transportation impact fees to help foot the bill for that and other road projects.

Schock, the Elgin mayor, represents a community that was among the first to support and implement the county’s original transportation impact fees. But it now is among the least supportive of the county’s overall transportation philosophy, which city leaders believe emphasizes big roads at the expense of transportation network improvements.

In a meeting last week, McConnaughay, county board transportation committee Chairman Jan Carlson and Phil Bus, executive director of the Development and Resource Management and Transportation departments, laid out the basics of the proposed new fees, which would be used to fund engineering, land acquisition, construction and administration. It is a serious effort to actually do what most politicians only talk about – make developers pay for the problems they create.

This may be unique, too, in that it offers fee reductions for proximity to public transit or multiple land uses, low density or walkability. It also would make fees more equitable county-wide, addressing a complaint about the original fees.

Fees would be implemented over five years and would defray up to 80 percent of the cost of $1.2 billion in projects the county believes necessary by 2015, including two bridge projects and 22 involving Randall Road. Fees during the fifth year of implementation would be about $3,300 for a single family detached home, $25,000 per 1,000 square feet for a convenience store and $1,500 per room for a hotel/motel.

When I asked if the new fee plan had detractors, the answer was quick and sure.

“Elgin.”"Ed Schock.”

So I called up the Elgin mayor the next day and asked him if that assessment was accurate. When he said it was, I asked him to explain the city’s complaints.

“Elgin supports transportation impact fees, even aggressive transportation impact fees,” said Schock. But it disagrees vehemently with the county’s underlying philosophy of focusing on a few big roads, Randall being foremost. Such roads are extremely costly, up to $1 million an intersection in the most basic design on Randall, said Schock.

“Randall Road is breaking the county (financially), worsening traffic and it is unsafe,” said Schock. He knows every public official is under pressure to do something about traffic. But he says the city has learned the hard way that the best way to improve traffic flow is not by confining it to a few roads, but dispersing it in the manner of the old grid systems that once drove municipal design.

For example, Schock says Elgin could get a lot more traffic improvement bang for an impact fee buck via a $3.5 million connection of now-disconnected South Street, creating a new east/ west dispersal route near Randall, than it would get from the $4 million, multi-lane, multi-turn lane Bowes/Randall intersection.

“We don’t want to support fees that encourage that ‘big road’ philosophy,” Schock says, arguing that big roads require higher fees and fees that are too high may unduly repress development. “It’s a fundamental philosophical disagreement.”

The county board is pointing toward possible implementation of the new fee plan next fall. Schock is putting together a seminar of transportation experts in mid-February that he hopes county officials will attend.

Lady and gentleman, en garde.

But remember, the public doesn’t care who wins. It wants traffic to move and developers to pay for the problems they create.

cbailey@@dailyherald.com

(c) 2007 Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.