Daily Herald Article by Eric Peterson

Developer withdraws request for Hoffman Estates tax incentive

A developer has withdrawn his request for a tax incentive for a proposed 184-acre development in western Hoffman Estates that particularly drew the ire of Barrington Unit District 220 and Community Unit District 300.

Anthony Iatarola, manager of the development partnership LLC, clarified that while the request for a tax increment financing (TIF) district for the 184 acres at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72 was withdrawn Wednesday, proceedings for a mixed commercial and residential development there are continuing.

“Obviously, the school districts are vehemently opposed to it,” Iatarola said of the request for a $21 million tax reimbursement over the course of 23 years. “Having them on board and positive about it would have been great.”

Though the original request for a TIF district is no more, Iatarola said he couldn’t comment on whether a new or revised one could follow in the future.

He maintained his prior stance that some financial incentive was necessary to overcome the development hurdles on the land his family had partly owned since 1959. These challenges include wetlands, buried construction debris and a natural gas pipeline running through the site.

“Financing is critical to any project,” he said.

District 220 board President Brian Battle said that while the tax incentive would have hurt both school districts’ ability to educate the additional students that would come, so too would the proposed density of the project that’s still being pursued.

Battle said he plans to continue objecting to the development and the zoning it’s seeking on that basis.

District 300 Superintendent Fred Heid added that both districts’ consultant had already determined there was no legal justification for a TIF district given that the land has been farmed recently and hasn’t been truly vacant for the required five years.

Like Battle, he said the TIF district was just one aspect of the school districts’ concerns, but that density and lack of space for a new school were others. Nevertheless, he said District 300 is not adopting an anti-development stance.

“Eliminating the TIF does provide some financial protections,” Heid said. “That property is going to be developed. It’s not an issue of if but when.”

Following Wednesday night’s planning and zoning commission hearing on the project, a public hearing and vote on the annexation of the property is scheduled for the Hoffman Estates village board meeting of Monday, April 17.

Lawns are hearty and only require approximately an inch of water once a week. In cases of severe drought, such as we are experiencing at this time, not watering the lawn will do no harm. Lawns will turn brown, as most lawns are now, but they will bounce back when the drought is over. Watering a lawn for 3 to 4 hours a day is a waste of water. Watering a lawn for this amount of time with a garden hose wastes about 1350 to 1800 gallons of water which is equivalent to the daily water consumption of about 10 to 15 people.
The Northwest Water Planning Alliance is currently working on a proposal for uniform watering regulations for the communities in northeastern Illinois. A number of communities have some sort of regulations in place and most are similar in that they suggest that under normal conditions lawns be watered in the early morning and in the evening. During dry periods an odd/even watering program might go into effect and during severe drought conditions no lawn watering or car washing activities are allowed.
Please see the BACOG article, “Drought, Water Levels and Recommendations for Community Action” for additional information. -Dr. Thomsen

This can happen depending on the extent of the drought, but water levels here usually do not decline permanently from droughts. If the drought is long enough water levels can drop enough so that some shallow wells become dry. In our area, droughts do not last very long and groundwater levels recover during subsequent wet periods.

If you are on a public water system, and living in an older home you should check to see if a lead service line connects your home to the public service system. The local water department can usually inspect the line coming into the home or check their records to confirm if the house is connected to the water system by a lead service line. In addition, faucets and lead-based solder can also contribute small amounts of lead into drinking water especially if produced and installed before 1998. Since lead in your water has been tested at a level greater than 0.015 mg/L, options include having the lead service line replaced, using a home water treatment product certified for lead reduction, or using certified bottled water. Several technologies that treat drinking water in the home have been proven to significantly reduce lead, in addition to reducing other contaminants as well. These technologies include: Reverse osmosis, Distillation, Solid block and pre-coat adsorption filters, which are made with carbon or activated alumina, Water softening (for water lead-contaminated before entering the home).
As you have found out, a whole home treatment system is very expensive. Since you have installed a point-of-use reverse osmosis system for your drinking water you might consider doing the same for the baby’s bathwater. A less expensive option might be the attach a PUR water filter to the faucet when drawing the baby’s bathwater. -Dr. Thomsen

Measuring the water level in one’s well is not an easy undertaking. Therefore, I recommend that you have a water level measurement taken the next time that you have your well inspected or decontaminated by a well professional. It is difficult to gain access to the well and once access is gained there is always the possibility of introducing contaminants to the well in your attempt to measure the water level. The water level in a well will usually be the same as the level of the area’s water table if your well is located in or near a recharge area. In areas having relatively deep wells, the level of the water will be representative of the water level in the aquifer and may or may not be equivalent to the water table if one exists in the area.

A person who practices the science of Earth’s water, its movement, abundance, chemistry and distribution below Earth’s surface.