Decades dispute over Campus View Drive may be settled in 2018

 

[October 15, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

Over the past 50 plus years from time to time the subject of Campus View Drive has come up in the meetings of the Lincoln City Council. The street is an unusual situation within the city as the debate for many years has been first over ownership of the street, and second over the expense of bringing the street up to code if the city were to take responsibility for it.

The road referenced is at the tail end of Campus View Drive. The street for many years has been considered as only belonging to the city in part. For Campus View residents, the street is maintained by the city as it comes off of Illinois Route 10, but at the “back” of the residential area, the road is considered to be the property of Lincoln Christian University, and not the responsibility of the city.

Over the last several weeks Campus View resident Kevin Bateman has been making regular presentations to the city disputing the belief that the road belongs to the college.

Bateman in his first presentation shared the problems that occur on the tailend of the street including water and snow problems. He explained that the drainage had been a much larger issue until he purchased land behind his home and built a retaining pond and engineered a means for the water to travel from Campus View to the pond.

He said in the winter time, the city plows to a specific line then leaves. Residents beyond that line have no help in getting their street cleared. He said that city trash does come to his property, but the trucks are challenged in getting down the street. They use a parking lot nearby to turn around and back in to the area.

Bateman also reported that the road is in terrible shape and no one is maintaining it. He said that all he was asking was that the city take responsibility for the road and do some maintenance. He said that the road doesn’t meet minimum width requirements for city streets and has no curb and guttering, but in his mind that is not important. He said what is needed is that the street needs to be graded so that water can run off and it needs to be repaired.

Bateman said he has talked to his neighbors and they would be happy to see just the minimum of care and maintenance from the city, and like Bateman, don’t feel that the city needs to do a big reconstruction job on the road. They would also like to have their end of the street snow plowed.

In another meeting, Bateman brought in documentation that showed that at one time in the 1990’s there was an agreement made between Lincoln Christian College and the city of Lincoln that the city would take over the street. However, the agreement was drawn up but never signed by then Mayor Joan Ritter. He said that the documentation showed clearly that the city aldermen at the time intended to take responsibility for the street, but it just didn’t happen.

Bateman also spoke about other times that residents including himself have come to the city and noted that the last time they appeared before the council, the city was facing some dire financial issues and couldn’t afford to take on the financial burden of maintaining the street.

During most of Bateman’s presentation aldermen had little to say. On one occasion Tracy Welch did comment that he had driven out to look at the situation. He said as it happened he made the trip in a week when the city had seen quite a bit of rain. He said when he was there he witnessed the difficulty Area Disposal had in getting to the residents on the tailend of Campus View Drive. Additionally, he said that when they got to their destination, the men working had to wade through water to do their jobs.

Other comments made recently included discussion on the fact that the road did not meet city standards. There were contradictory comments that if one drives through the city of Lincoln there are a number of roads that don’t have curb and guttering, and several roads that probably would not fit within the required street width of approximately 37 feet.

Historically, many years ago the entire area of Campus View Drive, including the homes, belonged to the college. But in the 1960’s the college sold the properties. Later, the city agreed to annex the properties into the city limits. However, at that time, it was not understood that the road was also annexed. The city considered that the road belonged to the college and the college saw it differently, believing the city took the road in the annexation process.

At the Tuesday night Committee of the Whole of the Lincoln City Council, Welch said he felt it was clear that the city was responsible for the street based on the action of annexation. He felt that the city needed to take responsibility for the street.

Street Superintendent Walt Landers said he had done an estimate on what it would take to repair and resurface the street, without addressing curb and gutter or street width and the cost would come in around $37,000. He said he didn’t feel the city could add the project to this budget year, but he could incorporate it into the next fiscal budget year.

He said to get the street through the winter and into next year, his department could do some “stop gap” repairs.

Bateman is a Logan County Board member and also the spouse of Lincoln City Clerk Peggy Bateman. Michelle Bauer commented that as the city moves forward to resolve these issues she wanted it to be clear that this is being done because it is the right thing to do, and not because the Batemans’ are being favored by the city.

She said, “We are taking action on something acted on in the 70’s that was since neglected.”

Heidi Browne agreed saying the aldermen have often been faced with cleaning up situations that had been neglected. She said it was time to make a final decision on Campus View.

Ron Keller said he was still concerned with the road not meeting city requirements for width, but Browne said that the street she lives on doesn’t meet that code either and no one is concerned about it. She said there are other streets that are the same.

City Treasurer Chuck Conzo asked Bateman about a letter he had mentioned that had been issued by the president of the college. Bateman said he had two letters. One was a copy of a letter signed by the president of the college on February 9, 1999. That president is no longer at the college, but Bateman has a new letter signed by President Green.

Welch said that he felt it was time to finalize the ownership of the street. He said that he felt the city should request that the city attorney research and draw up the necessary documents to finalize the ownership of the street and hand responsibility of the street over to the city.

By nod of head, the majority of the aldermen agreed.

There is no action item on the agenda for Monday, October 15th, but it is anticipated something will be put on a voting agenda in the near future.

[Nila Smith]