Downers Grove OKs stormwater fee opposed by businesses, non ...

Property owners in Downers Grove will have to pay what could amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars more every year after the village council voted Tuesday to impose a stormwater utility fee despite opposition from businesses, non-profit groups and others.

Under the plan, all property owners ? including businesses, schools, churches and non-profits ? will be charged a monthly sum beginning in 2013. The fee will be collected to pay for culverts, storm sewers and detention ponds that keep flood waters at bay. Only Commissioner Bill Waldack voted against the measure, which passed on a 6-1 vote.

Before Tuesday?s vote, the new fee was blasted by several residents, in addition to the Downers Grove Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Laura Crawford, president of the business group, told the council the new fee will drive up the price of consumer goods, harm economic development and tarnish the village?s business-friendly reputation.

?This utility has the potential of diminishing what we?ve come to accept as Downers Grove amenities, changing the character of Downers Grove,? Crawford wrote in a recent in a letter to the council. Her sentiments have been echoed in recent months by many church groups, as well as the Downers Grove YMCA.

It will come with a number of costs, Crawford wrote, ?but none of these costs will compare to the loss of good will in our community.?

The monthly amount that will be charged varies depending on each lot. But, in general, property owners will be charged $8.40 a month for every 3,300 square feet of land covered with a roof, parking lot or other surface that can?t absorb water, according to records. ?The bigger the roof or parking lot, the more runoff is generated and the greater the fee.

Initial estimates projected yearly increases of 15 percent a year for the next ten years, according to records. But the actual amount is uncertain because the council amended the proposal before Tuesday?s vote to spread the hikes out over a 15 year period.

School districts in the area, as well as the Downers Grove Park District are eligible for credits that could alleviate a substantial portion, if not all, of their bill, said Village Manager Dave Fieldman. Businesses and homeowners could also be eligible for a fee reduction if they make drainage improvements on their own.

Mayor Martin Tully, who has been a staunch backer of the utility, conceded that there are some downsides.? But he said residential property owners currently shoulder the majority of the burden for stormwater projects, while businesses and non-profits don?t pay a fair share. Village officials have said they plan to cut property taxes if the fee is passed.

Meeting ?EPA clean water mandates, reducing flooding in addition to a backlog of needed maintenance to the streams, collection ponds, storm sewers and culverts have placed monetary demands that are outstripping the amount budgeted for such improvements, Tully and other village officials have said. Either way, a new fee of an increase in property taxes was needed to pay for the projects, they have said.

?Any time you do something different or new there is going to be a discomfort level with it. ?It?s easier to do things the old traditional way,? Tully said. ?I?ve been convinced for sometime that, if properly designed for Downers Grove ? this is, on balance, a superior way of paying for stormwater infrastructure and maintenance costs.?

At least nine Illinois towns have approved stormwater charges, according to experts familiar with the issue. In the Chicago area these include Aurora, Highland Park and Rolling Meadows.

A handful of others have considered similar proposals.

Before the new fees are added to property owners? water bills in 2013, the village council will need to take further action on the measure, Fieldman said.

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