New Lenox inching forward with quiet zone for Metra line

New Lenox residents living close to Metra’s Southwest service line may find relief from blaring train horns by 2019.

Village trustees approved a $22,000 contract with Christopher B. Burke Engineering on Monday to finalize an engineering study that began almost three years ago to submit for approval for quiet zones on that line.

Municipalities that establish quiet zones can mandate that trains not blare their horns at crossings, which improves the quality of life for area residents. However, this requires safety precautions and improvements at the crossings mandated by the Federal Railroad Administration.

The village had been waiting to approve a speed waiver for the line’s Laraway Road crossing and has received it, village engineer Will Nash said.

The waiver was necessary because Laraway Road has a speed limit of
45 mph, while the FRA requires a maximum speed limit of 40 mph for a crossing, according to Nash's memo requesting approval of the contract.

Once the study is finalized and the village determines the improvements needed, it will be submitted to the FRA for approval. There also is a 60-day comment period for all jurisdictions that the line crosses to weigh in on the village’s plan and make any changes that may be incorporated into the requirements of the FRA, according to Nash’s memo.

With all these requirements fulfilled, the village could have the quiet zones established by the end of this year or early next year, Village Administrator Kurt Carroll said.

The crossings proposed for the quiet zone include Wood Street, Joliet Highway, Illinois Highway, Laraway Road, Delaney Road, Cedar Road, Baker Road and a private crossing.

Separately, trustees also approved an amendment to a purchase agreement with Hartz Land Company LP for 80 acres on Delaney Road for building a new sewage treatment facility, which is opposed by nearby residents, especially those in the Royal Meadows subdivision.

The move follows an announcement by Mayor Tim Baldermann last week at a special town hall meeting regarding the sewage plant that the village now is considering moving the proposed large-scale plant to the north part of town, at the site where its Plant 3 is located.

Amendment authors justified it because of the village’s 60-day due diligence period before finalizing the Delaney Road purchase was to expire at the end of March. The new deadline for finalizing that contract is May 28.

The village needs that extra time to come up with a purchase agreement for the north side property and do its due diligence on that property before making a final decision on the sewage plant location.

According to a video of the Monday meeting, Baldermann told residents who attended that the board’s consideration of the option to move the plant to the north side, “is not an exercise in futility. If the board was not interested in pursuing that option, we wouldn’t.”