With an eye toward extending water services to an unincorporated subdivision, Lisle trustees approved an ordinance that is the first step to initiating a referendum proposal asking Woodland Estates residents if they wish to be annexed.
However, the 3-1 vote came as trustees continue to question the need for a referendum proposal and their options if such a measure fails.
After the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency found some wells in the subdivision contaminated with the solvent tricholorethene, or TCE, the village surveyed area homeowners about having water pipes installed.
But, the response was not the overwhelming support the board sought before embarking on a $1.3 million project.
Property can be annexed to a municipality voluntarily by homeowners if all of the affected property owners and 51 percent of the voters in the area file a petition, according to village attorneys.
A municipality can also initiate annexation through a referendum measure, which requires the Village Board to pass an ordinance describing the territory to be annexed.
A judge then determines if the ordinance is valid and if any property needs to be removed from the territory.
Assistant Village Atty. Alice Clark Thode told trustees they needed to pass the ordinance to keep the referendum option viable.
Trustee Kim Brondyke asked, “The one concern I have is, if the referendum fails, what are we going to do at that point?”
Mayor Joe Broda said he believes the issue would then be settled. “They will not be getting water from the Village of Lisle, unless the board chooses to do other things,” he said.
Trustee Ann Duker said the board’s vote moved one option forward.
“What we ultimately do is irrelevant to whether we approve this ordinance in regard to the annexation,” Duker said.
The reason for the referendum measure, she said, is to test the homeowners’ feelings.
Trustee Luke Brandonisio said taking this route was the “most fiscally responsible approach” because current Lisle residents might not like footing the bill on a project for non-Lisle residents.
But Trustee Ed Young called the ordinance a waste of time and money.
“What has generated the most conversation was the concern of spending the money to lay the pipe and the recouping of that money back to the water fund, but I would suggest it makes no differences to that fund if they annex or not,” Young said.
“They can get annexed and nobody has to take the village water,” leaving no benefit to the fund.
“If we are ultimately going to lay the pipe, then I would suggest that any legal fees that are being spent on this process is a waste of money,” he said.
