Hawthorn Woods added to subdivision's lawsuit over water
Hawthorn Woods is "obstructing" Lake County from building a new water system to serve residents of the Glennshire subdivision in town, the state attorney general alleges.
The Illinois Attorney General's Office filed a motion Tuesday in Lake County Circuit Court to add the village as a defendant in its lawsuit against the county on behalf of 224 Glennshire residents.
Those residents, served by the county-owned and -operated Glennshire water system, learned in 2006 their 20 shallow wells would have to be replaced due to an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency order.
Glennshire residents are waiting for the county to install a new distribution system to provide safe drinking water, but Hawthorn Woods must first approve the necessary permits.
"Our defendant (Lake County) is saying we can't comply unless we are able to get the permits to construct the (system)," said Rosemarie Cazeau, environmental bureau chief for the Attorney General's Office. "We are not filing an action against the village. We just want them to come in as a necessary party so they are at the table."
On June 19, a Lake County judge will decide whether to order Hawthorn Woods to expedite the permit process. Hawthorn Woods is expected to file a response to the attorney general's motion before the hearing.
The document filed Tuesday alleges Hawthorn Woods is delaying permits for right-of-ways to install new water mains under public streets to service Glennshire residents.
The document says that at a February 2008 meeting between village and county officials, "the village stated that no 'right-of-way' permits will be issued by the village in this matter unless the county first signed off on a village sewer tributary project -- a matter wholly unrelated to the construction of a new public water supply for Glennshire residents."
Hawthorn Woods Mayor Keith Hunt on Tuesday denied such statements were made.
"This is the county's problem and they have tried since the beginning to place it on the village's shoulders," he said. "At the end of the day, the village has done everything it can to help these residents and to try to facilitate the most economical and pragmatic solution to the problem."
Hunt said the county submitted documents for review in the Glennshire water plan on April 18 that are moving through the process.
He added that the county has been holding up a permit for a village sewer project along Midlothian Road for the past year.
County officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Residents caught in the middle are frustrated.
"I don't know what the intent of the village is at all, but the fact is that we need to get water to our homes as soon as possible and this has been delaying action for over six months," said Christopher Donovan, a Glennshire resident and president of Citizens for Equitable Water Solutions, a homeowners group formed to address the water issue. "It's causing us harm."
Donovan said residents recently have had problems with water main breaks throughout the system.