Wonder Lake’s long-awaited water, sewer work brings opportunities for businesses, firehouse

Dan Dycus has heard from a few residents just outside Wonder Lake who are “curious about” connecting to village water and sewer now that part of the village’s system is being extended closer to their homes.

The long-awaited project began on July 16, connecting 61 parcels in and around Hancock Drive and East Wonder Lake Road to a new lift station, sanitary sewer and water mains at the Stonewater Wastewater Treatment Plant on McCullom Lake Road.

Because “loops” must be built into the system to ensure water flows correctly, the lines will go past homes that are not incorporated in the village, said Dycus, Wonder Lake’s village president.

“There are just north of 100 in total that are involved in this because of where the stubs are being dropped,” Dycus said.

Once the 400-day construction project is completed, existing businesses and storefronts in Wonder Lake’s downtown that now are on private well and septic systems will be able to connect and expand, village officials said.

The Wonder Lake Fire Protection District station at 4300 E. Wonder Lake Road is one of the buildings that will connect, Fire Chief Mike Weber said. The fire district plans to abandon the well and septic behind the station once on the municipal system, allowing expansion of the station originally built for a volunteer service, Weber said.

Kim and Bill Doran own East End Pizza and Ice Cream at 7431 Hancock Drive.

Like every storefront on Hancock Drive, East End Pizza is on a well and has an undersized septic system. The McHenry County Department of Health limits the number of seats inside and outside the restaurant.

“We had picnic tables, but only 30 seats are allowed. We had to remove the tables and stack them on their side so no one could sit there,” Kim Doran said.

Once they connect to the municipal system, the couple wants to expand into “the largest outdoor music venue in McHenry County,” Kim Doran said. “I am waiting for the world to open up.”

Dycus points to the strip mall just east of the pizza parlor that includes a Subway, Aira Fitness and a gaming hall. The septic system there has failed, Dycus said, limiting other businesses from going into the empty storefronts until they are connected to the new system.

The contractor, JT Underground, has 400 days from July 16 to complete water and sewer extension, Village Administrator William Beith said.

Getting to this point has been a long and arduous process for Wonder Lake. The project was first envisioned by officials in the 1960s, and the Village Board worked with property owners and residents to get Hancock Drive annexed in February 2024.

The Stonewater subdivision, with its 3,200 homes on 1,400 acres, is where the wells and wastewater treatment plant sit. The housing development was first proposed in 2006 and approved by the village in 2009. Construction on the first homes started in 2021 and they’re part of the reason Wonder Lake was named the fastest-growing community in the state last year.

The entire projected cost now sits at just under $15.5 million. Funding sources including grants and 30-year, low-interest water and sewer loans from the Illinois Environmental Protect Agency totaling almost $16.8 million.

The excess funding ensures any contingencies found during construction are covered.

“Costs may shift here and there,” Dycus said.

Connecting to the municipal system is not free, but the loans and grants are covering 80% of the $45,000-per-parcel cost.

The two loops will run from the lift station being constructed near Wonder Lake Marina, along East Lake Shore Drive, then down South and East Sunset Drive on either side of Hancock. The IEPA mandated the village put in stubs for each of the homes along that route, Dycus said, but those residences are not being forced to annex or connect now.

Beith noted there are upsides to annexing and connecting to the new system, such as not having major portions of a lawn taken up by a septic drain field.

“The biggest difference is lot coverage. When you abandon your septic field, you get that back and gain permeable surface on your lot,” he said. “You can put in a pool or build a deck or build an addition onto your house.”

The new system will bring economic development to the Hancock Drive corridor, Beith said. Now, those storefronts are either constrained or empty because of their septic system limitations. “If we build it, they will come” to downtown," he said, to serve the nearly 25,000 residents expected in Wonder Lake and its unincorporated neighborhoods.