Like stubborn neighbors arguing over backyard property lines, officials in Frankfort and University Park have spent months accusing one another of greedy land-grabbing.
But a committee of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission has given a clear indication to both that their interests will be better served by working together to settle their utility boundary disputes.
The NIPC Water Resources Committee recently recommended creation of an ad hoc committee to embark on a three- to six-month Intergovernmental Planning Process. The committee would include three NIPC commissioners and representatives from Frankfort and University Park.
The process is presumably meant to compel the two battling communities to recognize areas of agreement, resolve issues on which they disagree and plan for future development changes and trends.
According to a draft copy of the recommendation, the planning process would allow Frankfort, University Park and Consumers Illinois Water Co., another interested party in the debate, to develop boundary agreements, coordinate land-use planning and ensure their 5-year and 20-year plans for future development are consistent with those of Will County and the Eastern Will County Regional Council.
Discussions also would include other communities with concerns about the land, including Monee and Richton Park.
The committee’s recommendation will be considered by the full NIPC board on March 30. If approved, the ad hoc committee would report back to NIPC by June.
“We certainly prefer that the interested parties work out an agreement themselves,” said NIPC commissioner Lowell Anderson, who served as acting chair of the committee at its meeting.
The dispute between Frankfort and University Park centers on unincorporated portions of Green Garden Township–land that would likely become ripe for development with a southern extension of Interstate Highway 355 and the construction of a third municipal airport near Peotone.
Frankfort, which operates water and waste water treatment facilities, submitted an amendment to its existing Facility Planning Area (FPA) agreement and asked for permission to service a 7,113-acre area south of Steger Road and west of Harlem Avenue.
NIPC is the first body to hear such requests.
University Park and Consumers Illinois Water also filed for amendments to University Park’s FPA. The area in Green Garden Township in which the three FPA amendment requests overlap amounts to about 3,819 acres.
Though FPAs only designate areas that utility providers are supposed to serve, many view them as areas for likely municipal expansion.
“It is about growth and what’s going on in this area, so it is about boundaries,” University Park Village Manager Michael Grubermann told committee members.
University Park would like to extend its FPA more than 1 mile west of Harlem between Steger and Dralle Roads. Grubermann has said he would be willing to negotiate how far west of Harlem his village FPA should go.
Frankfort has staunchly opposed any movement by University Park west of Harlem.
