Hawthorn Woods backs off annexation

Hawthorn Woods relinquished land west of Quentin Road Thursday that it had taken five weeks ago in an annexation Lake Zurich officials said violated an intergovernmental agreement.

But the agreement was not the reason village officials gave for the reversal.

In a special board meeting, Hawthorn Woods decided to repeal the annexation - about 56 acres between Telser and Quentin Roads along Route 22 - to revisit how it conducts forcible annexations, officials said.

"We just thought we wanted to change our strategy," Mayor Joseph Mancino said.

Lake Zurich officials had a different take on the matter.

"They did it wrong. (The annexation) was jurisdictionally incorrect," said Ruth Schlossberg, Lake Zurich village attorney. She and four other Lake Zurich officials were at the meeting after Mancino notified them of the repeal.

Lake Zurich officials said the land was protected by a 1998 intergovernmental agreement that designates Quentin Road as the dividing line between Lake Zurich to the west and Hawthorn Woods to the east. Hawthorn Woods also did not provide proper notice to residents, Schlossberg said.

Schlossberg said Lake Zurich sent Hawthorn Woods a "quo warranto" July 23, a document forcing the village to show the legal authority on which it had acted when it annexed land west of Quentin Road. That document was also submitted to the Lake County state's attorney and the Illinois attorney general, she said.

Hawthorn Woods had minimal communication with Lake Zurich officials about the boundary agreement after the annexation, Mancino said. He did not say whether the decision to repeal the annexation came as a result of the quo warranto.

He and Chief Operating Officer Pam Newton said they were not sure the village would try to reannex that land and that it would be for the village board to decide.

Suzanne Branding, Lake Zurich village president, said she was pleased Hawthorn Woods decided to repeal the July 1 annexation.

"We're glad to see they did this, and we hope the issue's over," she said. "We'll see what happens."

Off: Lake Zurich says land protected by intergovernmental agreement