News on Virgil Development

Kane County Chronicle
March 18, 2005

Kaneville seeks an identity

By KELLEY CASINO
Kane County Chronicle

KANEVILLE TOWNSHIP — The purple general store downtown and the 134-year-old blacksmith's shop have helped Kaneville distinguish itself from other communities in Kane County.

To protect that niche the township residents have been carving out in southwestern Kane County for the last 170 years, however, township officials are required to go farther than ever before.

That is why Kaneville Township officials have begun the process of incorporating up to 4 square miles of the township.

"It's primarily the identity; we want to be known as Kaneville, and we want the area around us to be attached to the town," said longtime resident David Werdin. "(Incorporation) is a good thing. It's something that probably should have been done years ago."

Talk of incorporating Kaneville has been circulating for years, Kaneville Township Supervisor Leon Gramley said. The growth of surrounding villages toward the heart of Kaneville, he added, pushed those in charge to begin the process of forming a village this year.

"I didn't think I'd ever see the day they'd have to incorporate to protect the town," lifelong resident Denny Long said. "You knew it was coming, but not this quick."

The bill

Legislation to allow Kaneville's incorporation was approved Wednesday by the House of Representatives.

Introduced this session by state Rep. Patricia Lindner, R-Sugar Grove, the bill passed the House's Local Government Committee on March 2.

"Kaneville's been very responsible," Lindner said. "They've seen all the other villages incorporate around them — Sugar Grove and Elburn — and I think they wanted some say over their own destiny."

Control of their future, however, requires state-enabling legislation, which still must be approved by a Senate committee and the Senate before it is given to the governor for his signature.

After Springfield's approval, Kaneville residents must approve a referendum for incorporation.

Gramley said the earliest residents could vote for their own village would be March 2006.

"Just from talking to people in the village, everybody's in favor of it," he said.

Werdin also is optimistic.

"I think we feel pretty strongly that it would go," he said.

Lindner agreed that the idea is not contentious, adding that the legislation passed the House committee without dissent.

The bill, which was drafted by Kaneville's attorney, will allow up to 4 square miles in the same township to be incorporated.

It also waives the requirement that the township receive the consent of neighboring municipalities and the county.

Negotiations

Although neighboring governments were not consulted by Kaneville officials to incorporate, officials from neighboring Elburn and Sugar Grove, as well as Kaneland School District, have weighed in.

Meetings with representatives from each of these agencies have resulted in ideas about, advice for and preliminary agreements with the potential Village of Kaneville.

Officials said one of the most significant agreements was to amend the legislation, which originally sought to incorporate up to 12 square miles, to allow up to four square miles.

The reason was school impact fees.

"When you look at how impact fees and transition fees are acquired, they're acquired by annexation," Kaneland Superintendent Charles McCormick said. "If 12 square miles was incorporated, it would never be subject to annexation."

Impact fees only would be collected as a result of annexation. A starting point of 4 square miles leaves room for growth and therefore the collection of impact fees as land is added to the village.

Potentially, the cost to Kaneland taxpayers would have been millions of dollars, McCormick said, because any home built within that 12-square-mile area would not be subject to fees.

"We didn't need to do any calculations," McCormick said. "We just knew it was a problem."

Kaneville officials agreed to amend the legislation and decrease the area of incorporation for the school district, just as they agreed to limit the incorporation to a single township for Sugar Grove officials.

"Sugar Grove was concerned we were going to try to incorporate into Sugar Grove township or that we'd do a strip-incorporation down Harter Road," Gramley said. "We said, 'Nope, we just want to stay in Kaneville Township, and we want you to stay in Sugar Grove Township.'"

Sugar Grove Village Administrator Brent Eichelberger said that until the incorporation of the village, officials from the two regions plan to meet to work out a tentative boundary agreement that essentially would follow the township line.

"We did talk about how we did not foresee (Sugar Grove) having any great desire to grow into Kaneville Township," he said.

Kaneville officials were pleased with the prospect, Gramley said, because fear of Sugar Grove's encroachment instigated the incorporation process this year. Sugar Grove's 2030 Comprehensive Plan draft showed possible development into what residents consider the heart of Kaneville.

Future Village

Not much would change in Kaneville if it is incorporated.

Residents would see the same police and fire services protecting them. Homes would stay on wells and septic, and residents would pay for their own waste removal as they do now, Gramley said.

The new village would be required to come up with funds to pay for road maintenance, however, and a village board would have to be named.

Long and Gramley said they believe plenty of people in Kaneville would like to be involved.

"I don't think they'll have any problem filling those positions," Long said.

The 4 square miles that township officials are considering for incorporation center mainly around the current downtown area of Kaneville where the blacksmith's shop and general store sit. The gravel pits and a few businesses to the east are also included in the preliminary drawings.

About 500 people live in that area, Gramley said, adding that the village would be in no hurry to add new residents, developments or businesses.

With protective barriers in place, Kaneville will be content to sit as it is, Gramley said.

"There's no real downside to it," he said. "We're going to try to keep as small as we can, just take in the town itself and go from there."