From a quest for home-rule status in tiny Pingree Grove to a countywide campaign for approval to sell $75 million in bonds to expand forest preserves, Kane County growth pressures continue to provide the impetus for most referendum questions voters will face April 5.
Six requests for approval to sell general obligation bonds totaling more than $278 million and eight requests, from assorted jurisdictions, for authorization to increase tax rates or to levy taxes in excess of this year’s 1.9 percent tax cap top the list of tax-related referendum questions slated to appear on consolidated election ballots in Kane.
The request to sell $75 million in bonds to acquire open space marks a return trip to the ballot for the Kane County Forest Preserve District that garnered overwhelming approval from voters in April 1999 for a $70 million bond issue.
In a speech this week to members of Naperville-based The Conservation Foundation, Forest Preserve Commission President John Hoscheit said there are enough “willing sellers” listed in the district’s queue to begin immediate negotiations to buy about 2,000 acres of open land if desired.
Hoscheit has projected that the district might be able to add an additional 4,000 to 5,000 acres of open land with approval of a $75 million issue.
Including the purchase of acreage that the district was able to acquire by leveraging the $70 million bond issue with grants and other funds, the district has been able to add about 6,000 acres of land to its holdings since 1999, said Hoscheit.
Also returning to voters for help in funding additional open space purchases is Campton Township, in central Kane, which is seeking approval to sell $28.3 million in bonds to fund its so-called Open Space Plan II.
The plan identifies a “wish list” of about 23 sites totaling roughly 3,900 acres for potential acquisition. The township’s plan does not provide for any open space to be acquired through condemnation.
An $18 million bond issue that Campton voters approved in April 2001 resulted in the purchase of about 700 acres of open space that the semirural township has opted to preserve ostensibly as a hedge against development. The township’s plan is to acquire open land for passive and active recreational purposes and for protecting the area’s natural heritage.
County Board member Barb Wojnicki, who represents the area and is an unabashed booster of the township’s open space plan, said the need for Campton to continue to preserve public land has not abated.
“We feel it is more urgent than ever … especially with the threat of annexation from Elgin and maybe even other municipalities,” said Wojnicki.
Open land in Kane is rapidly changing hands “from longtime landowners to investors,” according to Hoscheit. “We really can’t afford to wait,” he said.
Three school districts totally or partly within Kane County also are seeking voter approval to sell bonds to construct, repair or equip buildings.
Topping the list is St. Charles Community School District 33, which proposes to sell $86 million in bonds. Central Community School District 301 in Kane and DeKalb Counties is looking to sell $31 million; and Yorkville Community School District 115 in Kendall and Kane Counties has a $49 million issue on the ballot.
The Oswego Public Library District in Kendall, Will and Kane Counties also is proposing to sell $8.7 million in bonds for construction.
Geneva Community School District 304, East Aurora School District 131 and Kaneland Community School District 302, in Kane and DeKalb Counties, are seeking tax rate increases April 5 along with fire protection districts in the Pingree Grove and Hampshire areas and public libraries in Sugar Grove and the Huntley area. Plato Township is seeking a tax-cap exemption to raise additional money to improve its park on Russell Road.
Batavia is asking for voter approval to increase its sales tax by a half cent, to 7 cents from 6.5 cents, to help fund infrastructure or for property tax relief “or both,” according to the city’s proposition.
In Pingree Grove, where growth pressure from surrounding communities continues to be felt, home-rule status is being proposed again as a means for the tiny village to better manage future development.
The April ballot is the soonest that proponents of home rule in Pingree Grove could bring the issue back for a referendum after its narrow defeat in April 2003.
