§ 115-35 — Property contiguous to municipality; petition; referendum

(a) If the open space plan recommended for adoption under Section 115-20 contains property that is contiguous to the corporate boundaries of one or more municipalities, the corporate authorities of any of those municipalities may, within 30 days of the recommendation, vote to authorize the board of a township in a county having a population of more than 250,000 to acquire by condemnation property that is contiguous to the municipality's corporate boundaries. If the corporate authorities of a municipality fail to act within that 30 day period, then none of the property included in the open space plan that is contiguous to a municipality shall be acquired by the board by condemnation. The municipality's failure to act constitutes a denial of authority to acquire that property by condemnation. (b) If, within 30 days of the decision of the municipality to either authorize or deny the board the authority to acquire by condemnation that property included in the open space plan that is contiguous to the corporate boundaries of the municipality, a petition is filed with the township clerk, signed by not less than 15% of the registered voters of the township (according to the voting registration records at the time the petition is filed), requesting that the question of whether the board shall be granted authority to acquire property contiguous to the corporate boundaries of the municipality by condemnation be submitted to the voters of the township, then the question shall be submitted to those voters in the form of a proposition. The petition shall state the public question to be submitted and contain a common description of the territory proposed to be acquired in plain and nonlegal language. The description shall describe the territory by reference to streets, natural or artificial landmarks, addresses, or any other method that would enable a voter signing the petition to be informed of the territory proposed to be acquired. (c) The township clerk shall certify the proposition to the proper election officials, who shall submit the proposition to the voters of the township. The referendum shall appear on the ballot at the same election as the referendum required in Section 115-20. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, the referendum shall be conducted and notice given in accordance with the general election law. The question submitted to the voters at the election shall be in substantially the following form: Shall the Township Board of (name of township in a county having a population of more than 250,000) have the authority to acquire by condemnation open land that is contiguous to the corporate boundaries of (name of municipality) for open space purposes? The votes shall be recorded as "Yes" or "No". (d) The election authority shall include on the ballot the description of the territory proposed to be acquired as set forth in the petition. If the election authority determines that the description cannot be included within the space limitations of the ballot, the election authority shall prepare large printed copies of a notice of the public question that includes the description. The notice shall be prominently displayed in the polling place of each precinct in which the question is to be submitted. (e) If a majority of the voters voting at the election on the question vote in favor of the question, then the board may acquire by condemnation open land that is contiguous to the corporate boundaries of the municipality or municipalities and included in the open space plan recommended for adoption under Section 115-20. (f) If the corporate authorities of a municipality deny the board the authority to acquire by condemnation property that is contiguous to the municipality's boundaries and the referendum does not appear on the ballot at the election specified in this Section, or if the proposition fails to receive the vote of a majority of the voters voting on the proposition, then the board may not acquire the property by condemnation. (g) For purposes of this Section, "contiguous" means contiguous for purposes of annexation under Article 7 of the Illinois Municipal Code.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 91-641, eff. 8-20-99.)