Champaign County Board Votes to Give Land to Savoy for Curtis Road Project

It looks like improvements along Curtis Road west of Route 45 will continue without the threat of interruption from Champaign Township. The Champaign County Board voted Thursday night to convey county right-of-way property along Curtis Road to the village of Savoy --- so the village can annex the land and let the road project proceed.

The land in question is in unincorporated Champaign Township, which had threatened to hold up completion of the road project, unless it won concessions from the city of Champaign in their ongoing annexation dispute. But annexation by Savoy will take away Champaign Township's jurisdictional powers --- although the land will remain within the township.

County Engineer Jeff Blue says the property was scheduled to be handed over to Savoy eventually. "The county never wanted to have any interest in Curtis Road in the long term, says Blue. "It's just a matter of timing, when we were going to convey that property to the village of Savoy. And we chose to do it earlier than later."

The Savoy Village Board voted to accept the land for annexation last week.

Another piece of property needed for the Curtis Road improvement project will be annexed by the city of Champaign. The Champaign City Council approved an annexation agreement with owners of land at the Curtis and Mattis Avenue intersection earlier this week. Curtis Road west of Route 45 is being widened to take in traffic from the new I-57 interchange.