Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
After a 10-year process, the city of Springfield will take over jurisdiction of a half-mile stretch of MacArthur Boulevard, allowing a landowner there to begin preparing lots for possible development near Legacy Pointe.
The city will now oversee the portion of MacArthur starting at Junction Circle and ending where the road turns into farmland and rounds out into Recreation Drive. The transfer from the Illinois Department of Transportation would allow the Wanless Trust, which owns eight lots known as Iles Junction West between MacArthur Boulevard and the interurban trail, to build three curb cuts so drivers could access the properties.
On Thursday, Wanless Trust’s attorney, Kurt Wilke, said the trust doesn’t have prospective buyers yet. Getting the lots platted and building the curb cuts are necessary steps to be able to market the property, he said.
But getting the city and IDOT to finalize the transfer has taken 10 years and approval was almost delayed once again this month.
The process began in 1996, when Wanless and the city signed an agreement for the trust to move its property west so the city could build new portions of MacArthur Boulevard. The agreement stated “each lot shall have access to South MacArthur Boulevard as so relocated.”
However, IDOT rules don’t allow curb cuts from large arterial roads, making Wanless Trust’s request for the road to be under the city’s jurisdiction a necessity to gain access. The curb cuts are needed, Wilke said, because there is no access to the lots from the west and the lots are too shallow for frontage roads, which would cut another 80 feet into the property. As a compromise, the developer reduced its request from four curb cuts to three.
In 2010, while Wanless was trying to get the eight lots platted, IDOT indicated it would transfer the road within a year, Wilke said. That never happened.
Discussions restarted in February of last year, and in November, the Wanless Trust was told by city engineer Nate Bottom that IDOT had signed off on the transfer and that an ordinance would be placed on the city council’s agenda in December. That never happened.
“This ordinance would piece-meal it,” McMenamin said at that meeting.
McMenamin said the association encouraged development along the boulevard if it met IDOT road standards of having intersection and frontage roads, instead of curb cuts.
However, on Tuesday when the ordinance came up for final approval, the association had relented after reviewing Wanless Trust’s plan and seeing the shallowness of the lots.
Douglas Dougherty, an MBA board member, said the association, which represents residents and businesses, was pro-development, but took a “30-year, 30,000-foot” of development.
However, Dougherty urged the city to push for a full jurisdictional transfer and cautioned the city to have a plan and its own policies for entry and exit points from MacArthur Boulevard for when it does own the road in the future.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 