If you have not heard, the Illinois General Assembly has passed the O'Hare Modernization Act approving the City of Chicago's O'Hare expansion proposal. While we are not surprised, we are disappointed that the concerns of the communities neighboring O'Hare have fallen on deaf ears, and that Chicago's political influence has been allowed to disrupt all standard procedures and protections for airport planning. We thank everyone who took the time to call, write, and send e-mails to Springfield as this bill was debated. Your participation was important, and will continue to be so.

Despite the media's reporting of the expansion issue, this process is only at the beginning. While the State of Illinois and Chicago struck a deal on this project, the actual plan must now be revealed and considered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Though the State has decreed that O'Hare 'will' be expanded, the federal government must first decide if it 'should' be expanded, and the federal government will have final say. Public projects of this magnitude require significant public involvement, disclosure of all costs and impacts, and opportunity for open debate. None of these elements were included in pushing through the "O'Hare Modernization Plan" ('OMP'). A member of our expert legal team, the former Administrator of the FAA, called this secretive approach "unprecedented" in his experience of reviewing hundreds of airport plans around the country.

We have every reason to believe the FAA will ultimately not approve the OMP plan. This newsletter introduces our consulting team who will work closely with the FAA as the review process begins, and provides you with a summary of the conclusions reached by our team of experts from their professional review. As you will read, the City of Chicago's claims of delay reductions, economic benefits, and costs are wrong, and when evaluated by the FAA, we are confident this plan will not pass muster.

This is a matter of national importance. The Village has worked diligently to develop a regional air capacity program that will actually help maintain our region's central position in transportation. Problems at O'Hare impact the national transportation network, but the OMP plan fails to solve the problems. Because O'Hare is so important, the FAA will give this issue close scrutiny.

As the issue develops and the review begins, we will provide updates when available. We want to emphasize the fact that the OMP plan is at the beginning of its review process. The State can pass all the laws it wants, but the FAA must find the benefits of OMP to exceed the costs. We know it is a flawed plan and confidently feel that the plan will not receive FAA approval.

This newsletter is published by
The Village of Elk Grove Village
901 Wellington Avenue
Elk Grove Village, Illinois 60007
Telephone: (847) 439-3900
TDD: (847) 357-4088

Craig B. Johnson, Mayor
Ann I. Walsh, Village Clerk
Gary E. Parrin, Village Manager

TRUSTEES

Nancy J. Czarnik
Samuel L. Lissner
Bart K. Dill
James P. Petri
Patton L. Feichter
Chris Prochno

The Village Hall is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday for payment of water bills, local fines, pet licenses, vehicle licenses, and general Village information. In addition, the Finance Department counter will be open on the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m, - noon. The Engineering & Community Development counter will be open on the first Saturday of the months of May through September from 9 a.m. - noon.

Village Board meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 8:00 p.m. The floor is opened to the public at 9:00 p.m. for comments and questions.