May 16, 2025
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Getting connected: Yorkville waves $21K in water connection fees for Yorkville 115’s temporary classrooms

Temporary pole barn classrooms needed because of district’s capacity crisis

By Joey Weslo
Office assistant Cindy Kepka props the door open for waiting students on the first day of classes at Yorkville Grade School on Friday, Aug. 15, 2024.

(File photo) Yorkville School District 115 is facing a capacity crisis that will likely necessitate a public referendum to provide greater funding for facility upgrades. Pictured, elementary students enter Yorkville Grade School. (Steven Buyansky for Shaw Local/Steven Buyansky for Shaw Media)

An agreement between the Yorkville City Council and Yorkville School District 115 may be emblematic of a new period of open collaboration between the two bodies.

The city council approved waiving a $21,000 water connection charge for the district’s $3 million temporary pole barn classrooms.

Both the council and the school district previously said they would like to meet together more to discuss city decisions that impact the school district, especially new residential developments that exacerbate the schools’ capacity crisis.

The temporary classrooms are needed because the district’s classrooms are struggling to fit all the new students due to the area’s surging population growth.

City administrator Bart Olson said at the May 13 city council meeting that the city and the school district have a history of working together. He said that collaboration should be sustained.

“Each one one of those temporary classrooms needs to be connected to the water main, which triggers a water connection fee for our ordinances,” Olson said at the meeting. “We reviewed it internally. They waive fees for us sometimes. Historically, we waive fees for other governments too.”

The water connection fee is waived by the city in the form of a grant.

The agreement follows several years of the city approving residential projects and economic developments, opening up the city to a deluge of new residents. At city council meetings, the school district has opposed several new residential developments arguing its classrooms are already bursting at the seams, and they cannot afford any new students.

The town’s rapid population growth has resulted in a 10.5% enrollment increase within the district in each of the past four years, according to school documents.

To foster long-term solutions, the district is currently designing a master facilities plan this summer to accommodate future enrollment increases.

It is significantly likely the necessary upgrades and building constructions will require funding increases approved by the public through an upcoming referendum.