News on Virgil Development

Chicago Tribune
March 29, 2005

Suburban ballots focus on growth

Voters asked to deal with development or put limits on it

By William Presecky
Tribune staff reporter.
Freelance reporters Ken O'Brien, Amy Fischer Roth, Gary Gibula and Jack McCarthy contributed to this report

March 29, 2005

The April 5 election ballots in Kane County and throughout much of the west suburban region have "growth" written all over them.

One way or another, development that has occurred--or is predicted to occur--is at the core of most of the public policy issues, involving hundreds of millions of dollars, facing voters.

Of the dozens of referendum proposals on ballots throughout the far west suburbs, most are in the form of arcane-sounding requests for voter approval to exceed tax-extension limits, or tax caps, or to sell bonds for education, public safety and an array of park and library projects and operations.

Not all involve money.

In Pingree Grove, in north-central Kane, a vote whether to grant the village home-rule status and the extraordinary controls and financial flexibility that come with it is on the ballot for the second time in recent years.

Not all are binding.

In Virgil, population 300, voters are being asked on a non-binding basis whether the village in west-central Kane should annex and rezone land for a proposed 1,500-acre, 2,600-home development that could generate thousands of new residents.

Many voters in Kane will face more than one ballot question.

In parts of Campton Township, which lies within what Kane calls its "critical growth area," voters will face three referendum measures, at the county, township and school level, each with an added tax liability if approved.

In all, over $485 million in borrowing is being sought in jurisdictions that lie at least partly in Kane and DuPage Counties or overlap into neighboring counties.

An additional $419 million in bond sales is at stake in neighboring Will County, including a $95 million proposal by the forest preserve district to expand and improve its land holdings.

In Kane County, faced with a projected population increase of roughly 300,000 by 2030, the Forest Preserve District put a $75 million bond sale on the ballot. The ability to make additional open space purchases, according to proponents, provides Kane residents with "the ultimate tax cap."

"People in Kane County clearly understand that preserving open space is the cheapest way to [control] land use," Brook McDonald, executive director of the Conservation Foundation, has said. "They clearly understand that as more development occurs, their taxes go up and open space is the ultimate tax cap."

The Naperville-based land conservation organization has spearheaded campaigns for approval of both the Kane and Will forest preserve bond issues.

Open land in Kane is changing hands from longtime landowners to investors at an unprecedented rate and at prices that escalate almost daily, said forest preserve president John Hoscheit.

"We really can't afford to wait," he said.

Three school districts totally or partly within Kane also are seeking voter approval to sell bonds to construct, repair or equip buildings. Three others are seeking tax rate increases.

Glenbard High School District 87 and Salt Creek Elementary School District 48 are the only school districts wholly within DuPage asking for relief from tax caps.

The largest of the school bond proposals is in Indian Prairie School District 204, in DuPage and Will Counties ($130.5 million) and St. Charles Community School District 303, in Kane and DuPage Counties ($86 million).

Central Community School District 301 (Burlington), in Kane and DeKalb Counties, is looking to sell $31 million in bonds; 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 is proposing to sell $8.7 million in bonds for construction, as are the Lisle ($14.1 million) and Lemont ($3.5 million) library districts. Lemont is partly in DuPage.

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, as are fire protection districts in the Pingree Grove, Hampshire, Roselle and Lemont areas; and public library districts in Sugar Grove, Huntley, Bensenville and Lemont.

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.

Two independent studies done for the St. Charles-based school district signal to officials that they should prepare for several hundred new students annually over the next several years, said district spokesman Tom Hernandez.

If voters approve borrowing, the owner of a $300,000 home in the district will be billed an additional $85.50 in property taxes, he said.

According to Sheila Griffin, of Citizens for Excellence in Education, the district is asking for "the opportunity to stay ahead of the growth that we believe is coming, and to avoid finding ourselves in a crisis situation a year from now."

In East Aurora District 131, the request for a tax increase is designed to fill what school officials see as a more immediate need -- transportation.

The district is about 77 percent Latino and about 63 percent low income, according to state school statistics, and the tax increase is needed to pay District 131's share of busing, something it has never offered students, except for those in special education.

A referendum committee has said school buses will keep children safe on their way to school and will increase attendance.

The bond issue in Indian Prairie School District 204 is aimed at building a third high school.

A citizens committee had recommended the measure, saying the new building would address space issues at the two high schools, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley, and six middle schools. If it passes, the proposal is projected to add about $119 to the tax bill on a $300,000 home. Indian Prairie covers parts of Aurora and Naperville. Groups on both sides of the issue are lobbying residents.

In Yorkville Community Unit School District 115, which also is experiencing growing pains, voters face both a bond issue and a tax rate hike.

Enrollment in the 83-square mile district has grown by 39 percent in three years to 3,300 students in 2004-05. By 2009-10, enrollment is projected to double to nearly 6,700 and a recent estimate by a Yorkville city planner suggests there could be as many as 55,000 students by 2030.

"Growth is significant," said Dan Nicholson, a member of a citizen's advisory group that studied district needs. "There is no side of town or direction out of town where you can't find development."