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Highwoods council adopts ordinance banning potable groundwater use in small Washington Avenue area
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Summary
The City of Highwoods approved an ordinance that prohibits use of groundwater as a potable water supply within a designated area near Washington Avenue after state environmental regulators requested the restriction because of contamination from a former dry cleaners.
The City of Highwoods City Council voted Aug. 5 to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the use of groundwater as a potable water supply within a defined area near Washington Avenue after the state environmental regulator requested the action. The council approved the ordinance at the meeting; roll call votes recorded Bauer, Hanson, Peterson and Mark Rutzis as voting aye, and the presiding officer announced the motion passes.
City staff said the restriction covers property near Tasha Del Norte and stretches into the Arab North Shore property to the north. A staff speaker explained the measure is being pursued because of “environmental remediation due to a ... dry cleaners that was previously on-site,” and that “the IEPA has requested the city to pass such ordinance in that area.”
The ordinance requires owners in the designated area not to install or use potable water supply wells or other methods to draw groundwater for drinking within the zone described by the city. The council moved to waive the first reading and voted on the measure the same evening.
Council members who spoke during the item asked clarifying questions about the location and the reason for the ordinance; staff identified the linkage to the IEPA request and the prior dry-cleaning site but did not provide details in the meeting about the scope of contamination, the cleanup schedule, or any alternative water supply measures for affected properties.
The council’s action was limited to passing the ordinance; staff did not present a remediation timeline or a map with property parcel numbers during the public proceedings, and no vote record in the transcript shows any conditions attached to the ordinance. The council moved on to other business after the roll call and a statement that they had “just came out of executive session. No action coming out of executive session.”
The ordinance text and any follow-up implementation steps — including notifications to property owners, water utility coordination, or required testing — were not detailed in the meeting transcript and therefore are not described here.
