Is Oak Brook done accepting new subdivisions?

Oak Brook annexation history

Updated: January 7, 2013 1:43AM

OAK BROOK — Annexations into Oak Brook are not uncommon.

However, Village Board approval of a request from residents of unincorporated Chateau Loire to be annexed into Oak Brook would make for only the second time since 1991 that additional land and people have been brought into the village.

In 2005, a bank at Illinois 83 and 16th Street that was located both in Oak Brook and Oakbrook Terrace was annexed completely into Oak Brook.

Now, it looks as though that annexation will remain the most recent. On Saturday, 24 presidents of homeowners associations in Oak Brook unanimously voted against supporting Chateau Loire’s request, which would need Village Board approval to become reality.

Residents of that subdivision expressed an interest in annexation in 2011 and have been planning to return with a request.

However, after such a large vote against the annexation, Village President Gopal Lalmalani said the possibility of bringing Chateau Loire into Oak Brook has been “pretty much put to rest.”

“The board may want to discuss this further, and the board makes the final decision, but the homeowners presidents are the pulse of the community,” he said. “It would be tough for the board to go against that when it’s so overwhelming.”

Chateau Loire is an unincorporated area west of Oak Brook’s Chateau Woods subdivision and includes 120 single-family homes with 308 residents.

Village staff recommended a year ago that trustees deny the annexation because of concern the annexed households would put a strain on village staff and employees.

Chateau Loire President Manuel Malicay said a year ago his subdivision would remain in the York Center Fire Protection District for fire service. This time around, Chateau Loire residents said they also would contract for public works services with York Township if they were annexed.

“There’s no compelling reason for Oak Brook to annex Chateau Loire,” Lalmalani said. “The financial liability over the next five to 10 years is unknown.”

It didn’t take long for the first annexation into Oak Brook after the village was incorporated in 1958. During that same year, several residents of a new city, Utopia, which later became Oakbrook Terrace, left Utopia and were annexed into Oak Brook. The vacant land they brought included the property on which Oakbrook Center was later built.

In 1962, the Fullersburg Woods area, Yorkshire Woods and Woodside Estates subdivision were annexed to Oak Brook, In the 1980s and ’90s, additional annexations included Oak Brook Club, Saddle Brook, Forest Glen, The Midwest Club, Trinity Lakes, and Coventry.

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