Division 8 - Property Acquisition


      (605 ILCS 5/Art. 5 Div. 8 heading)
DIVISION 8. PROPERTY ACQUISITION

    (605 ILCS 5/5‑801) (from Ch. 121, par. 5‑801)
    Sec. 5‑801. Any county, in its name, may acquire the fee simple title, or such lesser interest as may be desired, to any lands, rights or other property necessary for the construction, maintenance or operation of any county highway, township road or district road within the county or necessary for the locating, relocating, widening, altering, extending or straightening thereof, by purchase or gift or, if the compensation or damages cannot be agreed upon, by the exercise of the right of eminent domain under the eminent domain laws of this State. The county shall not be required to furnish bond in any eminent domain proceeding.
    When, in the judgment of the county, it is more practical and economical to acquire the fee title to inaccessible remnants of tracts of land from which rights‑of‑way are being acquired than to pay for damages to property not taken, the county may do so by purchase but not by eminent domain proceedings.
    When acquiring land for a highway on a new location, and when a parcel of land one acre or less in area contains a single family residence, which is in conformance with existing zoning ordinances, and only a part of said parcel is required for county highway purposes causing the remainder of the parcel not to conform with the existing zoning ordinances, or when the location of the right of way line of the proposed highway reduces the distance from an existing single family residence to the right of way line to ten feet or less, the acquiring agency shall, if the owner so demands, take the whole parcel by negotiation or condemnation. The part not needed for highway purposes may be rented, sold or exchanged by the acquiring agency.
(Source: Laws 1967, p. 3206.)

    (605 ILCS 5/5‑802) (from Ch. 121, par. 5‑802)
    Sec. 5‑802. When the county deems it necessary to build, widen, alter, relocate or straighten any ditch, drain or watercourse in order to drain or protect any highway or highway structure it is authorized to construct, maintain or operate, or deems it necessary to acquire materials for the construction, maintenance or operation of any such highway, it may acquire the necessary property, or such interest or right therein as may be required, by gift or purchase or, if the compensation or damages cannot be agreed upon, by the exercise of the right of eminent domain under the eminent domain laws of this State. The county shall not be required to furnish bond in any eminent domain proceeding.
(Source: Laws 1959, p. 196.)

    (605 ILCS 5/5‑803) (from Ch. 121, par. 5‑803)
    Sec. 5‑803. For the purpose of making surveys and the determination of the amount of property necessary to be taken or damaged in connection with any highway project, the county through its officers, agents or employees, after notice to the owner, may enter upon the lands or waters of any person or corporation, but subject to responsibility for all damages that may be occasioned thereby.
(Source: Laws 1959, p. 196.)