IDOT seeks to keep acquiring land for airport
“Though Gov. Bruce Rauner is taking time to review major projects, the South Suburban Airport, the Illinois Department of Transportation should be allowed to continue with land acquisition for the airport, an attorney for IDOT said Friday.
Will County Circuit Court Judge Susan O’Leary heard additional arguments Friday in a case involving three property owners who are trying to block IDOT from taking their land for the long-planned airport near Peotone. The land at issue consists of about 80 acres south of Eagle Lake Road and within the inaugural airport footprint.
O’Leary is expected to rule in a few weeks on the landowners’ request to dismiss the eminent domain case. Eminent domain law allows a government to take private property for the public good while paying the owner its appraised value.
During a hearing last month on the case, O’Leary questioned the impact that the new governor would have on the airport, which initially handle only cargo flights and would be built and operated under a private-public partnership. Former Gov. Pat Quinn was an ardent supporter of it, but Rauner has been skeptical, if not doubtful, of the need for the airfield.”
Fabbre, Alicia. Chicago Tribune 13 March 2015.