Water Tower and Wells to be Built on Frankfort's South End

A handful of homeowners with concerns over or outright opposition to a water tower planned for the south end of Frankfort aired their grievances to village officials during a Thursday night meeting. And then the departmental operations committee accepted a bid to build it.

"I wouldn't have spent a half million on my house if I knew I was going to be looking at that every day," Anita Houtsma said of the proposed 152-foot-tall water tower.

The tower and two wells are expected to be built on a parcel of land near the intersection of 80th Avenue and Steger Road. The committee accepted a bid of $2,549,000 from CB&I Constructors to erect the million-gallon water tower.

"The towers are needed, the wells are needed," said Mayor Jim Holland, noting that none of the homeowners gave sufficient reason to halt the project.

"Your statement was the most eloquent way to say, 'Be quiet and go home,'" Clifton Donaldson told the mayor.

Donaldson did not oppose the construction of the water tower itself but said the "politics of it really bothers" him. His wife, Felicia Donaldson, however, was against building the water tower altogether.

"I'm sure there were some other cornfields around here you could put it in," she said.

Houtsma was not only annoyed by the proposed water tower but also by the fire station the village built near her home. She said she was tired of the village "dumping all of its eyesores" by her house.

"It's almost insulting," Houtsma said. "No, it is insulting."

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