County board candidates debate value of annexing unincorporated areas

Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider wants the county to press ahead with an idea that has largely sat dormant for two years — getting municipalities to absorb much of the county's unincorporated areas.

In response to a question asked by the Daily Herald in its candidate questionnaire, Schneider of Bartlett said he supports the idea of shrinking the unincorporated areas throughout the county as long as residents are on board.

His opponent, Democrat Michael Urban of Elk Grove Village, says he would rather focus on specific unincorporated areas where residents complain it takes too long for sheriff's police to respond to calls.

Schneider, who has been the 15th District commissioner since 2007 and was elected chairman of the Illinois Republican Party in May, has been in talks with Roselle officials about the village absorbing some county land around Roselle Road.

Urban, meanwhile, said the Elk Grove Township residents he's talked to are generally satisfied with county services, although he's open to studying areas where residents are frustrated by what they perceive are slow response times by sheriff's deputies.

“Right now, I believe it's the county's responsibility,” the 30-year-old said of sheriff's patrols there.

Urban also thinks Cook County should hold public hearings for unincorporated property owners interested in joining the nearest town.

“In terms of talking to the residents, I think the county's been totally ineffective on that front,” said Urban.

The idea grabbed headlines when county board President Toni Preckwinkle pushed for towns to annex unincorporated parcels more than two years ago.

In 2012, she also introduced a $5 million fund meant to help communities bring infrastructure on unincorporated properties up to local standards.

There have been no takers. In Preckwinkle's 2015 proposed spending plan — plugging a $169 million projected shortfall this spring — the perk was cut to $2.5 million.

Schneider, 58, said Preckwinkle's administration justified the cut because the county is receiving $68 million in grants financing flood-relief projects. That work could benefit unincorporated areas with stormwater issues.

“I do think that we have committed enough money in the next year to hopefully entice people to want to consider annexation,” Schneider said.

“We really need to try to move in that direction or find a way to contract with local police departments to take some of these unincorporated areas up,” he added.

Schneider has been encouraging Roselle to take advantage of the seed money to absorb unincorporated land around Roselle Road — ripe for commercial development, he says. He expects a resolution in the next couple of months.

The prospect of development made annexation more enticing more than a decade ago when Palatine annexed land outside its northeast border.

At the time, single-family homeowners lobbied Palatine officials to bring the high-density apartment complexes into the village, citing problems with the county's code enforcement and crime.

The extra sales tax dollars from car dealerships that popped up around Rand Road — once unincorporated Cook County — helped offset the costs of providing services for roughly 10,000 new residents, said Palatine Village Manager Reid Ottesen said.

He said developers also are attracted to a more straightforward zoning process at the municipal level.

Still, much of the remaining unincorporated land in Cook County is residential, with little potential for retail. For a municipality to extend public works, fire and police coverage would likely mean new hires, which means new pension obligations, too.

County board District 15 includes parts of Arlington Heights, Barrington, Elgin, Elk Grove Village, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Streamwood and Schaumburg.