City of De Kalb v. Town of Cortland

599 N.E.2d 153, 233 Ill. App. 3d 307, 174 Ill. Dec. 607, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1359
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 28, 1992
Docket2-91-0562
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 599 N.E.2d 153 (City of De Kalb v. Town of Cortland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of De Kalb v. Town of Cortland, 599 N.E.2d 153, 233 Ill. App. 3d 307, 174 Ill. Dec. 607, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1359 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE BOWMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, the Town of Cortland (Town or Cortland), appeals from an order of the circuit court of De Kalb County granting the petition of plaintiff, the City of De Kalb (City or De Kalb), for disconnection of a parcel of land from Cortland. The Town asserts that the trial court erred because De Kalb did not present sufficient evidence to support its petition.

This case originated with a complaint filed by the treasurer/collector and county clerk of De Kalb County (No. 87—MR—74). The county officials sought a declaratory judgment as to whether the Town of Cortland or the City of De Kalb was entitled to recover tax revenues generated by a parcel of real estate located in the county and generally known as the Clara Kern Farm. According to the complaint, the parcel in question, which lay between Cortland and De Kalb, was annexed by Cortland in July 1981 and annexed by De Kalb in October 1986. Both municipalities claimed the right to receive tax revenues from the property.

In September 1989 De Kalb filed a petition for disconnection of the Kern property from Cortland (No. 89—MR—85). That cause was consolidated with the declaratory judgment action, and, in October 1989, De Kalb and Cortland entered into a settlement whereby they agreed, and the court ordered, that the Kern farm lay within Cortland’s territorial limits. The order also recited that, since the property was acquired by De Kalb for airport purposes, pursuant to section 11—103—1 et seq. of the Illinois Municipal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 24, par. 11—103—1 et seq.) (a division of the statute pertinent to airports for municipalities of less than 500,000), the Town of Cortland had no authority to control, by zoning or regulatory authority, the means or methods of construction upon or improvements to or the uses of the property, to the extent that the property is used as part of the De Kalb Taylor Municipal Airport for airport and landing field purposes. (See Village of Schiller Park v. City of Chicago (1962), 26 Ill. 2d 278.) The County of De Kalb was then dismissed as a party, and the case ultimately proceeded to a bench trial on De Kalb’s petition for disconnection.

For many years Cortland went quietly about its business as a small rural community lying in a generally southwesterly direction from the City of De Kalb. Unincorporated territory separated the two communities. For the most part the Town had grown up along either side of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad tracks, following a compact pattern of development which helped to retain a strong neighborhood atmosphere. Toward the end of the 1970’s, nearby communities began growing and expanding their boundaries toward Cortland—De Kalb from the west and Sycamore from the north.

In 1978 Cortland annexed a strip of land running northwest from the existing Town, along Loves Road, and a large parcel extending north and east from the Loves Road strip. Over the next 13 years Cortland continued to expand to the north and the west, from time to time annexing various parcels lying between itself and De Kalb or Sycamore. All of the annexations resulted from petitions for annexation by the landowners. By the time of the trial on De Kalb’s petition in 1991, Cortland consisted of a southeast section and a northwest section connected by a corridor paralleling Loves Road. (See figure No. 1.) The Clara Kern Farm property is located in the northwest section. See figure No. 1.

The City of De Kalb operates and maintains the De Kalb Taylor Municipal Airport. The east end of the airport, including an existing runway, extended into and partially bisected the Kern property at the time it was annexed by Cortland in 1981. (See figure No. 1.) In 1982, in accordance with a master plan for development of the airport, De Kalb became the owner of the 82-acre Clara Kern Farm. De Kalb now seeks to disconnect about 72 of those acres from Cortland. The portion of the property fronting on Loves Road, which forms part of the corridor connecting the northwest and southeast sections of Cortland, is not included in De Kalb’s petition.

De Kalb seeks disconnection pursuant to section 7—3—6 of the Illinois Municipal Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 24, par. 7— 3—6), which provides that owners of land lying within a municipality may have such territory disconnected if the disconnection meets certain requirements. On appeal, Cortland focuses on two of the requirements: if the territory is disconnected “the growth prospects and plan and zoning ordinances *** of such municipality will not be unreasonably disrupted” and “the municipality will not be unduly harmed through loss of tax revenue in the future.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 24, pars. 7—3—6(4), (6).) The courts have liberally construed disconnection statutes in favor of disconnection when the statutory requirements are met, regardless of the petitioner’s purpose, the common theme being to permit disconnection absent hardship or impairment to the municipality. Harris Trust & Savings Bank v. Village of Barrington Hills (1989), 133 Ill. 2d 146, 154-55; Indian Valley Golf Club, Inc. v. Village of Long Grove (1988), 173 Ill. App. 3d 909, 915; In re Disconnection of Certain Territory (1984), 122 Ill. App. 3d 960, 965; In re Disconnection of Certain Territory from the Sanitary District (1982), 111 Ill. App. 3d 339, 347.

The burden of proving the statutory elements rests on the party seeking disconnection. (Village of Barrington Hills, 133 Ill. 2d at 155.) A trial court finding that the statutory requisites for disconnection were established is not to be disturbed unless it is clearly contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence. (Anderson v. City of Rolling Meadows (1956), 10 Ill. 2d 54, 58; First National Bank v. Village of Mount Prospect (1990), 197 Ill. App. 3d 855, 859; Sun Electric Corp. v. Village of Prairie Grove (1978), 59 Ill. App. 3d 608, 612; La Salle National Bank v. Village of Burr Ridge (1967), 81 Ill. App. 2d 209, 214.) The trial court found that De Kalb had met all of the requirements necessary to prevail in this action. Cortland contends that the findings on the two requirements it raises on appeal were against the manifest weight of the evidence and the trial court, therefore, erred in granting the petition for disconnection. We disagree.

Unquestionably, the statute focuses on the effect of disconnection on a municipality’s growth prospects and plan and zoning ordinances. However, the legislature called for a showing only that disconnection will not be “unreasonably” disruptive to the municipality. Thus, while the legislature recognized that any disconnection may have some disruptive effect, only those that are unreasonably so will be prohibited. (Village of Barrington Hills, 133 Ill. 2d at 158.) The evidence presented at trial adequately demonstrated that Cortland’s growth, planning and zoning would not be unreasonably disrupted by this disconnection.

Cortland does not dispute that the Kern site is now being used for airport purposes. Nor does it contest that, as long as the property is used for such purposes, the Town cannot regulate it through zoning. Hence, given its present use, the site is going to be an airport regardless of whether it is located in Cortland or De Kalb and regardless of what Cortland’s zoning ordinance indicates. Cortland’s zoning classification for the site, along with any restrictions on use due to zoning, is irrelevant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
599 N.E.2d 153, 233 Ill. App. 3d 307, 174 Ill. Dec. 607, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-de-kalb-v-town-of-cortland-illappct-1992.