FOIADetermination Letter (non-binding)No violationGeneral Records Exemptions

Village of Arlington Heights properly withheld blueprints under section 7(1)(k)

The request sought blueprints for specific units in a privately funded condominium building.

Date issued: December 18, 2015
Request number(s): 38780
Public body: Village of Arlington Heights
Statute(s): 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(k)
Exemption(s) discussed: 7(1)(k) — Architectural/engineering security-sensitive construction documents
Outcome: No violation found

Plain-language summary

A resident requested building blueprints from the Village of Arlington Heights, but the Village refused to provide them, citing a law that protects construction documents for private projects. The Attorney General's office reviewed the request and agreed with the Village, finding that the building was privately funded and therefore exempt from disclosure. This means the Village was legally allowed to keep the blueprints private.

Legal question

Whether the Village of Arlington Heights properly invoked section 7(1)(k) of FOIA to withhold blueprints for a privately funded condominium building.

Holding

The Village of Arlington Heights did not improperly withhold the requested blueprints pursuant to section 7(1)(k) of FOIA.

Summary

The requester sought blueprints for specific condominium units from the Village of Arlington Heights, which the Village denied under FOIA section 7(1)(k). The PAC determined that the Village properly withheld the records because they constitute construction-related technical documents for a privately funded project.

Issues decided in this letter

Each question the Public Access Bureau decided, with the rule it applied. Extracted automatically from the letter; the source PDF is authoritative.

No violationFOIA section 7(1)(k)
Withholding blueprints under section 7(1)(k) private funds exemption
Rule applied: Section 7(1)(k) exempts construction-related technical documents for projects paid for entirely with private funds, so the Village properly withheld the blueprints.
Authorities cited: Ill. Att'y Gen. PAC Req. Rev. Ltr. 10924, issued January 21, 2011

blueprintsconstruction documentsprivate fundsexemption 7(1)(k)

Extracted text (615 words)

Text extracted from the PDF. Where source line breaks survive, they are used to reconstruct paragraphs; where they do not, the text is split into display-only reading blocks at sentence boundaries. Repeating office address blocks and safely identified footnotes are removed from the reading flow where possible. Reconstruction is automatic and imperfect — the PDF is the authoritative version, and it's linked on this page.

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

STATE OF ILLINOIS

Lisa Madigan

ATTORNEY GENERAL

December 18, 2015

Via electronic mail

Re: FOIA Request for Review- 2015 PAC 38780

> This determination letter is issued pursuant to section 9.5(c) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/9.5(c) (West 2014)). For the reasons that follow, the Public Access Bureau concludes that no further action on this matter is warranted.

On October 27, 2015, you submitted a FOIA request to the Village of Arlington Heights (Village), seeking blueprints for units 205 and 305 at 1206 South New Wilke Road in Arlington Heights. On November 2, 2015, the Village denied your request, citing section 7(1)(k) of FOIA (5 ILCS 140/7(1)(k) (West 2014), as amended by Public Act 99-298, effective August 6, 2015). On November 25, 2015, you submitted a Request for Review to this office contesting the Village's response to your FOIA request.

All public records in the possession or custody of a public body are "presumed to be open to inspection or copying." 5 ILCS 140/1.2 (West 2014); see also Southern Ilinoisan v. Illinois Dept. of Public Health, 218 Ill. 2d 390, 415 (2006). A public body “has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence" that a record is exempt from disclosure. 5 ILCS funds, including but not limited to power generating and distribution stations and other transmission and distribution facilities, water treatment facilities, airport facilities, sport stadiums, convention centers, and all government owned, operated, or occupied buildings, but only to the extent that disclosure would compromise security. (Emphasis added.)

In correspondence with this office, the Village confirmed that it "checked with the Building and Planning Departments and as far as we know, no public funds were used to construct 1206 S New Wilke Rd, Arlington Heights."’ In a phone conversation with this office, you confirmed that the structure that is the subject of your FOIA request is a private development.

Based on its plain language, the Public Access Bureau previously has interpreted section 7(1)(k) as exempting from disclosure: "all construction-related technical documents relating to projects that are paid for entirely with private funds." Ill. Att'y Gen. PAC Req. Rev. Ltr. 10924, issued January 21, 2011. No information provided to this office indicates that any public funds were used to develop the structure at 1206 South New Wilke Road, which your Request for Review identifies as a condominium building. Therefore the Village did not improperly withhold the requested blueprints, which are construction-related technical documents, pursuant to section 7(1)(k) of FOIA. Accordingly, we determine that no further action on this matter is warranted.

If you have any questions, you may contact me at the Springfield address on the first page of this letter. This letter serves to close this matter.

Ve

BENJAMIN REED

Assistant Attorney General

Public Access Bureau

38780 fno fi war mun ce: Via electronic mail

Ms. Lisa Farrington

Staff Attorney