Montgomery advances plans for two Lake Michigan water receiving stations; nearby homeowner raises concerns about Hill Avenue site

The Village of Montgomery advanced approvals for two planned Lake Michigan water receiving stations — one on the village's west side at Galena Road and one at Hill Avenue and Goodwin Drive on the east side — approving the planning commission recommendations and first-reading ordinance referrals and opening detailed discussion about design, screening and residential impacts.

The board accepted the planning and zoning commission's recommendation for the Hill Avenue receiving station and related special-use request and height variance (first reading) and separately accepted the Galena Road receiving station recommendation; both votes were recorded as 6-0 on the commission referrals.

Staff described the Hill Avenue site as a parcel dedicated to stormwater and village purposes within the Ogden Hill/Marquis Point subdivisions and immediately adjacent to residential properties. The new receiving station is needed so Montgomery can take Lake Michigan water via transmission mains; the village will have two receiving stations, east and west, to tie into the system. Staff said the receiving station will include a village booster pumping station, a village ground-storage tank or a standpipe (final design not yet selected), and a DWC (transmission) meter building owned and maintained by DuPage Water Commission (DWC).

“Utilities are special uses in all of our districts,” staff said, describing the need for a height variance because storage tanks or standpipes can exceed typical residential-story limits; the requested variance would allow structures up to but not exceeding 150 feet. Staff also requested an extension of entitlement periods to 2030 to allow design and approvals to proceed without expiring existing entitlements.

A resident, Rick Kaplan, testified during public comment that he bought a house near the proposed Hill Avenue receiving station in 2023 believing the adjacent field would remain natural area; he said he learned of the proposed receiving station by mail and was concerned about property values, noise (generators and pumping), construction impacts, hours of work, security and how tall screening plantings will be. “I was told by Hart's construction company that nobody was gonna put anything there ... I was pretty sure that nothing was going to be put in there,” Kaplan said.

Staff and engineers responded with preliminary details: the DWC meter building would be masonry with a metal roof, the village building would be masonry and staff intends to require fencing and security around the facility, and the code requires a minimum 10-foot-wide evergreen buffer (one evergreen per 10 feet, typically planted at 6-foot heights) between residential lots and utility sites. Staff said meter equipment to be owned by DWC would be a small masonry building while the village would own the storage tank/standpipe and booster pumps. Engineers said generator use would be infrequent (only during power outages) and weekly test cycles would be scheduled during daytime to reduce nuisance.

Trustees pressed staff on several points: Trustee Youngerman and others urged that evergreen buffers be larger (10–12 foot installation height) and considered planting them early so buffering is established before construction; concerns were raised about whether a standpipe or an in-ground/ground storage tank would better limit visible height. Staff said additional engineering work and hydraulic modeling will be used to determine tank sizing and whether a standpipe or ground storage tank is preferable.

The Galena Road receiving station (a parcel obtained via an earlier annexation agreement) was presented as an industrial-area site near the fire station; staff received a positive recommendation from planning and zoning and the board accepted that referral. Staff said the Galena site would also need a variance if the selected storage option exceeds district height limits.

Why it matters: moving to Lake Michigan water requires infrastructure that may change the character of immediately adjacent residential areas. The village must weigh operational needs (storage volume, hydraulic pressures) against neighborhood screening, noise and visual impact concerns.

Next steps: staff will return with detailed site plans, landscape plans, architecture and engineering details for final approvals. Trustees asked staff to seek to plant buffer evergreens early, to seek robust generator insulation, and to provide building elevations and final landscape details before final ordinance adoption. Staff said it will also discuss with the DWC whether more specific building appearance conditions can be incorporated.