Since opponents of McHenry County’s proposal to improve Fleming Road through Bull Valley have made it easy to post what they said in a public hearing this week, I’ll post some of their comments here.

This is a road that runs from Route 120 to Country Club Road. Some objectors believe that it is being improved to be an eastern by-pass of Woodstock, suitable for heavy trucks.

First, lets take a look at what Emily Berendt said:

The Fleming Road Alliance respectfully requests that the McHenry County Board review the policies and procedures of the McHenry County Division of Transportation.

Emily Berendt speaking at the Management Services Committee on ALAW's proposed conflict of interest ordinance,.

We should not be wasting funds by overdesigning and over constructing where simple, cost-effective solutions are available. Everything I read indicates that the philosophy today is to make the road fit the community. I refer you to this link for a federal publication that directs flexibility modifications to the Green Book.

The issue of right-of-way concerns me greatly. A MCDOT engineer at the recent Alden Road public meeting told me the ROW line on the Alden Road Map was drawn by the surveyors but that no one had yet checked the individual property owner’s plats and legal descriptions.

Comments were made on Post-It Notes during the rollout of the Fleming Road plans.

When the Fleming Road “clear zone” map was presented for Community Advisory Group (CAG) CAG#3, there was no legend for certain lines on the road that were identified when questioned as “estimated’ ROW. (And by the way, the Fleming Road surveyor’s contract, which has been billed and paid, called for “existing” ROW, not “estimated.”)

Now, the survey included with Fleming Road CAG#4 materials labels the same dashed line as “existing” ROW. What’s going on here?

It appears that, rather than confirm legal ROW by available proof, MCDOT simply claims ROW and requires the property owner to disprove it.

Conversations with residents near the Alden Road Bridge about their experiences indicate to me that is the case.

This amounts to an illegal taking if the homeowner is easily intimidated or does not have the resources and knowledge to adequately defend his property rights.

The simple fact is that if a property owner owns to the middle of the road and has not dedicated a ROW or granted MCDOT an easement, all MCDOT has is a prescriptive easement to the roadbed itself. A prescriptive easement gives MCDOT only the right to maintain the road as it currently is. It does not grant ROW. I am not sure MCDOT is working on the same premise.

Except to identify the “estimated” ROW line, Dave Block “deferred” my questions on ROW at the recent Fleming Rd. CAG#3.

Answers to several question, put to him at his invitation prior to the meeting also went unanswered, as has FRA’s year-long, repeated request for a cost/benefit analysis of rebuilding versus repaving, our request for a review of the definition of “exceptional trees”, our request for a review of design criteria, and other concerns that will be addressed by other speakers this morning.

CAG meetings feel like a one-way street.

If we were able to have meaningful discussions we might not be here today.

We do not feel we are being listened to or that our views are being considered.

A review of CAG #4 materials delivered to us by email on Friday fully supports our view that nothing has changed since the beginning.

And after being repeatedly assured for months that no design work was being done without our input, we suddenly have been presented with complex, detailed design options -that were designed in the last two weeks?

It is our observation that MCDOT and its engineering consultants are fixed on prescribed methods and standards that do not always fit the context of the project area and that they are unwilling to consider modifications to them.

Road building/maintenance in general needs to become more of a partnership between the taxpayers who foot the bill and the engineers employed by them to do the job.

We call upon you today to review the policies and procedures of the McHenry County Division of Transportation especially with respect to ROW determination, ROW acquisition, and communications with the taxpayers footing the bill.