Schaumburg residents to decide fate of water project

Schaumburg officials say they embarked on a plan to improve the water supply to an area of the Meadow Knolls subdivision because that's what the majority of its residents wanted.

Now opponents of the water main project, which would bring with it a new special property tax for those served, have exactly 60 days to prove that notion wrong.

The village board held a public hearing for the project Tuesday night which kicked off a two-month period in which objections can be heard.

Numerous objectors, as well as a smaller number of supporters, attended the hearing.

If at least 51 percent of the 71 affected homes formally object to the project, the village will drop the idea for a minimum of two years.

But officials said they believe the project has little chance of ever being more cost-effective than now, when contractors are hungry for work and willing to bid for it at the most reasonable prices.

The affected Meadow Knolls subdivision is located south of Wise Road and east of Roselle Road. It lies on the edge of unincorporated Cook County. The proposed project would serve one unincorporated property as allowed by the Cook County Board.

A survey of 100 homes was used to eliminate a portion of the subdivision from the project, as there were too many opposed to the project there.

That's why objectors in the area still planned to be served feel they're being treated unfairly. They said the subdivision is being divided up in favor of where supporters are concentrated.

But officials said they need all the properties that would be served by the new water main to be contiguous, even if the homes of some objectors are among them.

But while all in the area served by the water main would pay the special property tax, individual homeowners could decide not to pay the additional cost of tapping on to the new main, Village Manager Ken Fritz said.

The objection period will end Feb. 7, but officials emphasized they would never have done the preliminary work on the project if they hadn't been overwhelmingly asked.

"Basically, we had a group of residents who came to us," Senior Civil Engineer Scott Kasper said.