Yorkville anticipates $100M tab for Lake Michigan water project construction

For an $8 million connection fee, Yorkville is gaining access to the DuPage Water Commission, extending water mains from Naperville to Yorkville, after the Yorkville City Council unanimously approved multiple measures to fully set in motion the project to bring Lake Michigan water to Yorkville.

Oswego and Montgomery are tapping into the water as well and sharing costs with Yorkville. Based upon capacity, usage rates, and proximity, Yorkville’s share is 40.22% of the entire project. Out of the total project cost of $249.2 million, Yorkville is responsible for about $100.2 million to install the water infrastructure.

“This is the culmination of an effort of tens of thousands of staff hours, attorney hours, engineer hours, elected official hours, resulting in us finally receiving water from the DuPage Water Commission in a few years when it’s constructed,” Bart Olson, Yorkville City Administrator, said during the Oct. 8 City Council meeting.

Construction on the water infrastructure is expected to begin by early 2025 and the first water access should begin in 2028. The council unanimously approved the water purchase and sale agreement, that would quantify the project costs and amounts of water directed to Yorkville, and the intergovernmental agreement between Yorkville, Oswego and Montgomery in sharing the water facilities and infrastructure construction costs.

There are two options available to help the city pay for the project. First is a 0% loan offered by the DuPage Water Commission to be paid back by Yorkville over the next 30 years. A second option is to apply for a federal Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan, which has a larger interest rate, but would enable the water pipes installed to be enlarged permitting other future cities to tap into the water. Yorkville would receive credit from this, decreasing their original connection fee.

The increased utility bill rates of water and sewer users in Yorkville will be discussed and calculated in the upcoming months by city officials. Previous estimates had customers expecting to see increased rates of about 20% annually over the next five years.

Additional Moves

At their meeting, the City Council also moved forward the planned 228-acre data center campus by developers CyrusOne. The council unanimously approved the acquisition of easements from two private landowners to construct the necessary water main loop. The easement acquisition costs are to be reimbursed by CyrusOne as part of their agreement with the city.

The site of the data center campus, which will feature nine two-story buildings and an electrical substation, was previously unincorporated land in Bristol Township before recently being annexed and rezoned away from agricultural use by the Yorkville City Council.

The council also welcomed some new faces to the community during a presentation by Yorkville Chief of Police James Jensen highlighting the success of the police department’s Community Service Officer program. Most community events in Yorkville feature a CSO providing services to the public.

“We’ve been very blessed at our police department with our CSO program, five of the nine CSOs we’ve hired over the last couple years have gone on to be police officers,” Jensen said during the meeting. “Three of them have been hired by our department.”

Jensen said the program is a great recruitment tool for the police department, enabling them to mentor officers and help them learn more about the responsibilities of the department. He said he is excited to welcome the two new CSOs to the Yorkville community.