HUNTLEY – If it seems unclear who is winning the four-year battle among the Village of Huntley, the Kreutzer family, and ComEd regarding new electric transmission lines, just drive on Kreutzer Road near Haligus and Huntley roads.
ComEd powerline masts erected along Kreutzer road. (Photo by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
In the past few weeks, this long-standing dispute over the location of new lines took on a strange twist. Even though ComEd hasn’t acquired all of the land it needs to expand its efforts to improve power reliability in the Huntley area, and legal challenges to it are still unresolved in the courts, the utility has begun constructing masts to support the towers that will carry the new lines. They will extend, in part, from the Union Pacific railroad tracks near downtown Huntley to the intersection of Huntley and Kreutzer Roads near St. Mary Catholic Church.
ComEd, armed with two approvals for its reliability expansion project, is moving ahead with construction. While the village has given up its four-year fight against the utility’s plan, the Kreutzer family remain dug-in firmly in active opposition, hoping that the Illinois appellate courts will turn the issue around and send it back to ComEd’s drawing board. The families say the ComEd plan will not permit them to do what they want with their land and will adversely affect their property values.
The family owns about 300 acres along Kreutzer Road, most of it on the south side of the road. The Kreutzers settled in Huntley in 1868 and remain a prominent part of Huntley history.
Francis Kreutzer, whose grandfather came to the Huntley area nearly 150 years ago, has lived in Huntley for 61 years and now lives in one of the original Kreutzer homes near the driveway entrance to St. Mary.
More than four years ago, ComEd went before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) and proposed the Kreutzer route for 5.5 miles of new transmission lines to provide a second alternative in the event of a power outage to one of the existing transmission lines. The village and the Kreutzers objected, and several alternative plans were proposed to the south and east. The ICC twice has approved ComEd’s plan as the best and cheapest one.
“They are hurting our land and our families unfairly, and that shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” Francis Kreutzer said. “We have renters in another home, who will have to be relocated, and our daughter (Linda Byrne of St. Charles) and her husband want to move back to the property, and they can’t because of this issue. There are other locations that will not affect families and developments as much.”
In a statement emailed to the Sun Day, ComEd said, “In terms of route, the Illinois Commerce Commission has twice reviewed this matter and has approved the construction of the transmission lines to continue to provide reliable service to the region. Both the Kreutzer and Caranci families participated in those proceedings. All interested parties were allowed to propose alternative routes for the ICC’s consideration. The Kreutzer and Caranci families as well as others advocated for routes that would not cross their properties. After careful consideration of all the facts, the ICC concluded that the designated route that will run across a portion of the Kreutzer and Caranci properties was the best option. We believe that the appeal lacks merit and that the matter will be resolved to allow ComEd to acquire the property and finish the project.”
William Byrne, Francis Kreutzer’s son-in-law, said this is the second trip through the appellate courts for this issue.
“They [ComEd] lost the first time, because they didn’t have the correct footage measurements,” he said. “Now we’re back on different technical and equity issues. They [ComEd] have never negotiated in good faith with us. They have just gone to the ICC and gotten what they want. They made no response to our questions and requests, and they also have not said how much they have spent on this issue. They don’t want the public to know.”
Byrne said the family’s appeal has been pending in the appellate court in Chicago for about 18 months.
“I have no idea when we’ll get a ruling or a resolution,” he said.
He added that the Kreutzers have spent more than $100,000 on this matter since it began in late 2007.
As far as the village is concerned, it’s time to move on.
“We pursued legal action against this plan and suggested several feasible alternates, but we weren’t successful,” said senior assistant to the village manager Lisa Armour. “The issue is over for us. We fought hard to convince the ICC that this plan was not the best one. We wish the Kreutzers the best in their continuing efforts.”
The village is not participating in the appellate court legal activities.
1 Comment
I am a resident of the Wing Pointe Subdivision. The first I knew of this entire debacle was when they started clearing trees by the pond behind my house. I think that the Village and ComEd were not serving the public by failing to notify the residents of their intention to install these hideous towers, which are a health risk to the community. And it is unthinkable that in this economy they are being permitted to come in and downgrade the values of the properties further with this project. My husband and I are watching them install this eyesore throughout the area and do not understand what is the path of these ugly towers. They seem to be everywhere at this point. It is like some sort of electric nightmare some idiot at ComEd is making a reality. I think it would be fair at this point to publicly state where the executives from Exelon and ComEd reside so the residents from Wing Pointe can go their homes and sabotage their lives. Just who do they think they are?
This is an outrage!!!!