Village won't be rushed on water plan

The village of Hawthorn Woods will comply with Lake County officials' request to send them a proposal for the Glennshire water system, Mayor Keith Hunt says, but it will do it on its own timetable.

"We're still working on it with (water provider) Aqua (Illinois)," Hunt said. "The village is planning on submitting a proposal."

The Glennshire water system, 20 wells in Hawthorn Woods owned by Lake County, must be replaced because of an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency order that came after dozens of water quality violations.

The county says the purchase agreement, signed in the 1970s, requires the 224 homeowners to pay for the replacement, which could cost as much as $6 million.

The county voted to contribute $1 million to a new county-owned water system, the project homeowners approved in a May survey.

But recently, questions arose about water rates and a new county water tank. Last month, Hawthorn Woods volunteered to buy water wholesale from private provider Aqua Illinois and resell it to residents.

But the county said it knows nothing about this new plan and sent a letter Oct. 31 formally requesting a proposal from the village on how it would provide water to Glennshire residents.

In the letter, the county said the village removed a request for a special use permit and variations application -- which the county needs to move forward -- from a public hearing originally set for Wednesday.

"In essence," the letter reads, "the village has frustrated the county's efforts to proceed with the county-owned and operated system in a timely manner."

But Hunt disagreed, saying the Nov. 29 deadline the county said the Illinois attorney general's office has put on selecting a new proposal is "self-imposed."

"I'm not going to rush to judgment on something… and I'm not going to force a solution that doesn't work," he said. "My primary concern is the residents, however, not some pickle that the county has gotten itself into."

Lake County board member Pam Newton, who represents the Glennshire area, said there would be consequences for everyone if the deadline is not met.

"(The attorney general's) office takes over. The residents lose control, the county loses control," she said. "I would prefer that the people continue to have a voice in this process."

In the meantime, residents are eagerly awaiting details of a village plan so they can decide whether to support it.

"That's the whole problem with the village proposal … I don't have anything concrete," said Christopher Donovan, the president of Citizens for Equitable Water Solutions, a residents' group formed to address the Glennshire problem.

Donovan called the village buying water wholesale just a "vague thing thrown out in the air that has a lot of potential."