Gurnee agrees to bring sewer lines to businesses outside village

Concerns over wastewater flowing into the Des Plaines River were cited by Gurnee trustees when they approved extending sewer lines to two businesses outside of village limits.

El Rancho Motel and Fatman Pizza Pub and Sports Bar, both near routes 41 and 21 in unincorporated Lake County, will be hooked into Gurnee's sanitary sewer system after lines are extended from a nearby eatery. Fatman and El Rancho are on a well-and-septic operation.

Christian Khayat, who owns the motel and tavern, sought the connection to the village's system to correct wastewater problems cited by Lake County officials. Gurnee officials declined Khayat's request to consider annexing the businesses into the village.

Two Lake County agencies - the forest preserve district and the health department - recently found wastewater coming El Rancho.

"The motel was exceeding effluent limits and discharging directly into the Des Plaines River," Gurnee Community Development Director David Ziegler wrote in a memo to the village board. "The property owner was notified and forced to bring the sewer system into compliance."

Fatman and El Rancho are just west of the river. Also in the area is the forest preserve's Des Plaines River Trail and Greenway.

Village board trustees Monday night voted 6-0 in favor of extending the sewer lines to the motel and bar. Mayor Kristina Kovarik said it's "not a good environmental situation" at Fatman and El Rancho, which is why she supported extending the village's sewer lines to prevent further wastewater flow to the Des Plaines River.

"When the river floods, the septic is useless," Trustee Hank Schwarz said. "It's got to back up somewhere."

Under the agreement, Khayat will pay 150 percent of sanitary sewer rates to Gurnee because the businesses are outside village boundaries. Gurnee officials said Khayat preferred to connect to the village's sewer lines over constructing a private disposal system.

"We thought we could help out," Kovarik said.