'What a joke': White Pines residents question Bensenville water project

Bensenville officials this week were flooded with questions and criticism about a plan to improve the water delivery system in the nearby White Pines neighborhood.

The village is pursuing a nearly $8 million project to replace parts of White Pines' aging water system.

To pay for the work, property owners in the 267-parcel subdivision have two choices: voluntarily be annexed and pay for it through property taxes, or remain separate and pay a higher surcharge that would significantly increase their water bill for 20 years.

Before construction can start next year, the village is trying to secure a nearly $7 million loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. As part of the loan application process, Bensenville was required to host a Tuesday night public hearing.

More than 70 White Pines residents attended, seeking answers to a long list of questions. For some, it was a chance to strongly criticize the plan for its estimated cost and the talk of annexation.

"The village of Bensenville was handed our water system by a developer 70 years ago," resident Doug LaVine said. "And the village of Bensenville accepted the responsibility and liabilities of that decision to properly maintain our system and replace water mains and sewer mains when needed.

"The village of Bensenville still thinks we should pay for our water mains to be replaced," he said. "What a joke."

Even though White Pines has been staunchly independent since its founding in the 1940s, the neighborhood gets Lake Michigan water through Bensenville.

Village officials say the area's water system, which includes decades-old pipes, is "functionally obsolete."

A proposal by the village to replace the system more than four years ago never materialized after residents opposed it.

Now the village is moving ahead with a new plan.

"We've waited a long time," Village Manager Evan Summers said. "I don't want to kick the can down the road any longer."

Officials hope to begin construction in spring 2020 and complete it within a year.

To raise the estimated $7.87 million needed for the project, Bensenville plans to use roughly $900,000 it collected from a surcharge that White Pines residents have been paying on their water bills and to borrow the remaining $6.97 million from the IEPA.

If residents agree to become Bensenville taxpayers, the property tax dollars they pay to the village would help repay the loan.

Residents who refuse to annex - or who can't because their properties aren't contiguous with the village - will have a second option: Bensenville would increase the surcharge for their combined water and sewer bill for 20 years.

"This is not a forced annexation," Summers said.

"If you want to stay unincorporated, you are going to stay unincorporated. You'll just pay the higher water rate."

But resident Christopher Colon said the amount homeowners pay for water would increase so much that they would have to annex.

"The only logical conclusion is you're forcing us to annex," Colon told village officials.

Garry Gardner, who serves on the White Pines Civic Association board, said he believes either of the village's options will drive people out of their homes, especially seniors and those on fixed incomes.

"With this massive long-term financial burden attached to their properties, homes will be harder to sell," Gardner said, "ultimately lowering the value of all our homes."

If White Pines is annexed, it would increase the residential tax base for the village, which lost hundreds of homes to O'Hare International Airport's expansion.

So far, roughly 20 homeowners have pre-annexation agreements with Bensenville. About nine of them have properties that are contiguous with the village.

LaVine said the majority of White Pines residents don't want to be annexed.

"It's why many residents chose this wonderful, quiet place to live and call their home," he said.