'Old Town' Sidewalk Project Concerns Some Residents

PLAINFIELD, IL — The "Old Town" construction project is currently underway throughout Plainfield, targeting everything from sidewalks to sewers and streets, and there's some confusion surrounding the improvements.

The reconstruction includes a plan, set to begin in the spring of 2022, to widen four-foot sidewalks to five feet everywhere except on the south side of Lockport Street, where the walkway would be converted to an eight-foot-wide shared-use sidewalk, accommodating both pedestrians and bicyclists.

The multi-use path will go from Route 59 near Plainfield Academy east toward the Canadian National railroad tracks.

This is where some homeowners became concerned.

"A bunch of the neighbors, we've all gotten together and chatted, and we're not getting the same consistent story, which, that makes you wonder," said Betty Idleman, who lives with her husband, Leon, on Lockport Street. Betty, now 72, grew up in this same house, which she purchased from her father after his passing.

Leon said he's concerned about how much of their front lawn the new sidewalk will take up.

"I just don't care for what they're doing," Leon Idleman, 66, said. "We can just wait and see what happens. You're never going to fight the government anyways."

Sue Butters, another Lockport Street resident in the Whispering Creek subdivision, also said she's wary of the potential destruction to accommodate a sidewalk twice its former size.

Randall Jessen, the village's superintendent of public improvements, said the new eight-foot-wide sidewalk will be built within public right of ways.

"It will take up some of the parkway, but it won't go into people's front yards," Jessen said. "Typically, the property line is about a foot on the inside of the sidewalk, so the grass and any landscaping that's between the sidewalk and the curb is technically public property. ... We're not going to take anybody's property [or] force anybody to give up any property."

Butters, 58, said she's also worried about her mom's property, where she has lived since 1956. There's a stately maple tree in the home's front yard that she doesn't want to be cut down in the process.

Jessen told Patch he's been getting many emails from residents about the tree removal and didn't know where the concern came from.

Some homeowners might have recently received a pamphlet in the mail from the Village Preservation Association of Plainfield with information about upcoming construction projects around the area. It went out following a June 9 meeting held at Village Green Park by officials, which discussed "Old Town," among other projects.

In the pamphlet, Jessen said there was a discrepancy about the reconstruction of Eastern Avenue and Lockport Street: All trees on the south side of Lockport Street won't be removed as a result, he said.

"That couldn’t be more untrue," Jessen said of the rumored removal. "We're not going to do that."

He said the village will evaluate the conditions of trees to see what maintenance needs to be done on them before deciding if they would be cut down. Jessen said it's possible for the sidewalk to meander to avoid trees, fire hydrants, telephone poles or other hindrances. But if they are cut down, he said they'll be replanted.

Jessen said trees will also be planted in the front lawns of the 10 to 15 percent of homes in the project limits that don't currently have trees.

"Actually, I live in the project area ... and one of the reasons I moved down here is because it has major trees," he said. "I'm all for saving trees. We are a Tree City USA ... so we do promote trees and maintaining and keeping a healthy tree canopy in town."

Utility poles will also be moved to the outer edge of the right of way, as a preventative safety measure. Many cars have also hit the poles in the past, Jessen said.

"That's another driving factor in our project we look at," Jessen said. "We always try to improve safety where possible."

The crux of the reconstruction was a lead water service replacement project that began in 2017 to replace lead water service lines and upgrade water mains, as well as sanitary and storm sewers, so Jessen said it made sense to reconstruct the roads as the final phase of the project.

Since plans for the final phase are only about 80 percent complete, Jessen said it's hard to predict what the final cost will be and didn't have an estimate to give. He said taxes won't go up, and the project is being partially funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

"All the homeowners on the south side of Lockport Street ... need to know exactly what is being proposed for the front of our houses because obviously we received wrong information," Butters said. "A lot of people, they won't go to meetings or anything like that, so the information needs to get out in some other kind of way."