Glennshire group wants more time for water decision

Beleaguered residents served by the Glennshire water system expressed frustration Saturday at the complexities of a new Hawthorn Woods plan and the timeline they'd been given to respond to it.

"It gets more confusing every time I come to one of these things," said Barbara Stanek, one of about 70 residents at the meeting Saturday morning at village hall. "It seems like now we have a middleman."

The 224 residents served by the Glennshire water system learned last year their 20 wells would have to be replaced due to an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency order.

Lake County, which owns the system, says the purchase agreement signed in the 1970s requires homeowners to pay the millions of dollars for a new system.

In the most recent development in the Glennshire saga, the village of Hawthorn Woods has volunteered to buy water wholesale from private provider Aqua Illinois and resell it to homeowners.

Mayor Keith Hunt said Saturday the proposal was just a way to try to save residents money.

"What I want to emphasize the most is, the choice is yours," Hunt said. "What we're trying to offer you is another option."

The village says its proposal could save residents money in construction costs. And though the mayor acknowledged costs would be lower for residents who chose to pay their estimated $17,000-plus cost up front, he said over the long run, there could be some savings.

"It's a tradeoff," Hunt said, noting the village water rate would be higher than the county's proposed water rate.

Christopher Donovan, president of Citizens For Equitable Water Solutions, a homeowners group formed to address the Glennshire issues, echoed earlier statements he had made about the village plan.

He has said previously that the village plan has promise but residents need more time to make a decision.

"We certainly need to iron out a whole lot of details," he said, specifically naming whether or not the county would still contribute $1 million -- as it had promised with a new county water system -- if it was instead a village-owned plan.

"This is our money," Donovan said, again calling the Dec. 1 date by which the village wanted an answer unattainable. "We want to make sure it isn't spent ridiculously."

Depending on who would build the system, cost estimates vary, anywhere from $4 million to $7 million or more.