MWRD Board Denies Easement Request - Preserves Isabella Woods in Evanston

Metropolitan Water Reclamation Board Meeting - May 18

Significant Decisions Made:
Consideration of the request for an easement to build a road through Isabella Woods on the Evanston-Wilmette border occupied most of the public meeting.

• The road would serve a 4-house development proposed for a parcel in Wilmette. 
• More than a dozen individuals and representatives of conservation groups in Evanston and Wilmette spoke against the proposal, arguing that the District’s mission to manage storm-water precluded approving removal of old-growth trees which provide drainage.  No one appeared on behalf of the developer or the County Highway Department, the nominal requester of the easement. (The County was brought into the process after Evanston declined to grant the easement to the developer.) 
  
• Several Commissioners and speakers alluded to the fact that the developer’s lawyer is State Senate President John Cullerton, whose “clout” may have been involved in persuading the Department to ask for the easement after it had been denied to a private citizen.
  

The Board unanimously refused to grant the requested easement after considering the issue in Executive Session.

Significant Topics Discussed and/or Referred to Committee:

• A few contract awards were deferred at the request of various Commissioners who had detailed questions about the projects.  These will be discussed privately with the District’s Executive Director and the items will re-appear on the consent calendar for the next meeting.

Unexpected Votes, Events, Testimony or Items to Watch for in the Future:

• The unanimous vote against the easement could be considered unexpected.  Apparently the Board’s concern for storm-water drainage, old-growth trees and popular opinion outweighed its concern about being sued for refusing to grant the easement, but that’s only speculation because the discussion took place in Executive Session.

Observer: Kelly Kleiman                                                 Meeting Length: 90 minutes before Executive Session