June 19, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

County Board Passes Stroger Ordinances Regulating County Rights of Way

New ordinances are part of Stroger Administration’s broader efforts to make government more efficient.

June 19, 2007, Chicago – The Cook County Board of Commissioners today passed two new ordinances – the Public Way Ordinance and the Overweight/Oversize Hauling Permit Fee Ordinance – designed to improve the way the County regulates use of County rights of way in Cook County.

The Public Way Ordinance is significant because, for the first time, it provides a uniform system for regulation of right of way access, and allows the County to charge fees that are tied to the County's actual cost of licensing and permitting.

“One of my administration’s principle goals has been to make County’s regulations more efficient, up-to-date and systematic, and these two ordinances address those goals in the areas of permits and licenses for hauling and access to the public way,” said County Board President Todd H. Stroger.

Before the ordinances were passed, Cook County charged license and easement fees for gas, phone, electric, petroleum pipeline and similar uses based on ordinances and agreements developed at different times and using different formulas for assessing fees. In addition, no fees at all were charged for permits for construction or other work in the right of way, a process that often requires significant staff time. For example, a developer who requested a permit for a parking lot access point paid no fee even though the project must be reviewed by several divisions within the Highway Department to assess engineering needs for traffic safety, drainage, construction specifications and other engineering needs.

With the new ordinance, right-of-way license and permit fees are based on the actual cost of regulation to Cook County.

The Oversize/Overweight Hauling Permit Fee Ordinance will make the County’s process for oversize and overweight vehicles consistent with the practices of the Illinois Department of Transportation and the City of Chicago, and will enable the County to offset the additional wear and tear on County highways caused by these vehicles through fees assessed on the operators.

Permits are currently issued for this use, but no fees were charged. Procedures have been developed to allow these fees to be paid by telephone credit card charge to minimize any delay to haulers.

Both ordinances were developed by a task force that included representatives from Cook County’s Highway Department, State’s Attorney’s Office, the Office of the President, and the County’s Office of Industrial Engineers.

The task force’s key goals were to develop a uniform system for regulating use of County rights-of-way to replace the existing patchwork of easements, licenses and permits; to maximize the County’s ability to recover costs while abiding by legal limitations on fees; and to provide for enforceable penalties and other incentives for users of the rights-of-way to efficiently and expeditiously cooperate with the Highway Department’s plans and regulations.

Total revenue for both ordinances is estimated at $950,000, including $700,000 in License and Permit Fees under the terms of the Public Way Ordinance, and roughly $250,000 in permit fees under the terms of the new Hauling Fee Ordinance. Fees will be collected by Cook County’s Revenue Department.

County officials have been working with representatives of the regulated industries to craft strategies to deploy the new ordinances in a manner which will not cause interruption or delay in operations. Businesses like utilities and pipeline companies that extensively use rights-of-way will be required to have a license agreement in place prior to obtaining permits to work within a right-of-way.

Operations that already have facilities in County rights of way can continue to receive permits if they apply for the license within 90 days after passage of the ordinance, giving time for the new license agreements to be approved by the County Board.

Parties that are constructing driveways, signals or other initiatives that make only limited use of a small portion of the right-of-way will require only a permit, not a license.

The new fees commence thirty days after the ordinances' passage.

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

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