2023 Illinois Compiled Statutes › Chapter 70 - SPECIAL DISTRICTS › 70 ILCS 605/ - Illinois Drainage Code. › Article I - General Provisions

(70 ILCS 605/Art. I heading)
ARTICLE I.  
		GENERAL PROVISIONS
(70 ILCS 605/1-1) (from Ch. 42, par. 1-1)
Sec. 1-1. 
		Short
title. 
		This Act may be known and cited as the Illinois Drainage Code.
(Source: Laws 1955, p. 512.)
(70 ILCS 605/1-2) (from Ch. 42, par. 1-2)
Sec. 1-2. 
		Definitions. 
		When used in this Act unless the context requires
otherwise:
(a) "Clerk", when used without qualifying words, means the clerk of the
circuit court acting, ex officio, as clerk of a district.
(b) "Court" means the circuit court of the county in which a district
was organized.
(c) "Ditch" means an artificially constructed open drain or a natural
drain which has been artificially improved.
(d) "Drain" includes ditch and means any water course or conduit,
whether open, covered or enclosed, natural or artificial, or partly natural
and partly artificial, by which waters coming or falling upon lands are
carried away.
(e) "Drainage district" is synonymous with "district" and includes all
types of drainage districts organized under this or any prior Act.
(f) "Drainage structures" means those structures other than drains,
levees and pumping plants which are intended to promote or aid drainage.
Such structures may be independent from other drainage work or may be a
part of or incidental to such work. The term includes, but is not
restricted to, catchbasins, bulkheads, spillways, flumes, drop-boxes, pipe
outlets, junction boxes and structures the primary purpose of which is to
prevent the erosion of soil into a district drain.
(g) "Drainage system" means the system by which lands are drained or
protected from overflow or both and includes drains, drainage structures,
levees and pumping plants.
(h) "Land" means real property and includes, but is not restricted to,
lots, railroad rights-of-way and easements.
(i) "Landowner" or "owner" means the owner of real property and includes
an owner of an undivided interest, a life tenant, a remainderman, a
public or private corporation, a trustee under an active trust and the
holder of the beneficial interest under a land trust, but does not include
a mortgagee, a trustee under a trust deed in the nature of a mortgage, a
lien holder or a lessee.
(j) "Adult landowner" or "adult owner" includes public and private
corporations.
(k) "Municipal corporation exercising drainage powers" means a sanitary
district, city, village or other public body empowered by law to exercise
and which is exercising drainage functions.
(l) (Blank).
(m) "Non-resident" means a person residing outside the county or
counties in which the district or any portion thereof is situated.
(n) "Registered Professional Engineer" means a professional engineer
registered under the provisions of the Professional Engineering Practice
Act of 1989.
(o) "Sanitary purposes" includes, but is not restricted to, the
protection of residential, commercial and industrial property from
inundation and overflow.
(p) Words importing the masculine gender include the feminine.
(q) Words importing the singular number include the plural and words
importing the plural include the singular.
(r) "Farm Drainage Act" means and refers to "An Act to provide for
drainage for agricultural and sanitary purposes, and to repeal certain acts
therein named", approved June 27, 1885, as amended, which Act is
repealed by this Act.
(s) "Levee Act" means and refers to "An Act to provide for the
construction, reparation and protection of drains, ditches and levees
across the lands of others, for agricultural, sanitary and mining purposes,
and to provide for the organization of drainage districts", approved May
29, 1879, as amended, which Act is repealed by this Act.
(Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
(70 ILCS 605/1-3) (from Ch. 42, par. 1-3)
Sec. 1-3. 
		
		Cross
references.
Where, in this Act, reference is made to a section by its number and no
act is specified, the reference is to the correspondingly numbered section
of this Act. Where reference is made to an article by its number and no act
is specified, the reference is to the correspondingly numbered article of
this Act. Where reference is made to "this Article" and no act is
specified, the reference is to the article of this Act in which the
reference appears. If any section or article of this Act to which reference
is so made is hereafter amended, the reference shall thereafter be treated
and considered as a reference to the section or article as so amended.
(Source: Laws 1955, p. 512.)
(70 ILCS 605/1-4) (from Ch. 42, par. 1-4)
Sec. 1-4. 
		Jurisdiction of circuit courts over drainage districts-Venue.
The circuit courts of the several counties have jurisdiction over all
matters and proceedings pertaining to the organization and operation of
drainage districts. In those instances in which all the land in a proposed
district is situated in a single county, the petition for the organization
of that district shall be filed with, and all subsequent proceedings shall
be had in, the circuit court of that county. In those instances in which
the land in a proposed district is situated in 2 or more counties, the
proceedings for the organization and operation of the district shall be had
in the circuit court of the county in which the greater portion of the land
in the proposed district is situated. After a district has been organized
under this Act all proceedings pertaining to the operation of that district
shall be had in the court which organized the district without regard to
changes in boundaries or area by annexation, detachment or otherwise.
A district heretofore organized by a circuit court shall be deemed to
have been organized in the county in which the court so organizing the
district was located. A district heretofore organized by any method other
than by order of any court of record shall be deemed to have been organized
in the county in which the greater portion of its land is situated at the
time when this Act goes into effect, unless it is impossible to determine,
without a survey, the county in which the greater portion of its land is
situated and in that event the commissioners of the district shall have the
power to determine the county in which the district shall be deemed to have
been organized.
(Source: Laws 1965, p. 678.)
(70 ILCS 605/1-5) (from Ch. 42, par. 1-5)
Sec. 1-5. 
		
		Districts
organized under prior acts.
All districts heretofore organized or existing under any act repealed by
this Act are declared to be legally organized and shall continue in
existence and henceforth operate under this Act. All assessments therein
made and all other proceedings therein taken, if in substantial conformity
to law, are declared to be valid and legally made or taken. The officers of
any such district and the districts themselves shall have and possess all
the rights, powers, privileges, duties and obligations of the officers and
districts under this Act. Any proceedings begun under a prior act repealed
by this Act shall be continued and carried on under this Act to the same
extent and with the same effect as though they had been commenced under
this Act.
(Source: Laws 1955, p. 512.)
(70 ILCS 605/1-6) (from Ch. 42, par. 1-6)
Sec. 1-6. 
		Transfer
of jurisdiction over and records of existing districts. 
		Within one year after the effective date of this Act the commissioners
of each district organized under any prior law by any method other than by
an order of the circuit court shall file a report with the circuit court of
the county in which the district is deemed organized. The report shall set
forth in so far as possible (a) the name of the district, (b) the date and
manner in which the district was organized, (c) the act under which the
district was organized, (d) the boundaries of the district or a description
of the lands and other property included in the district and (e) the
drains, levees and other works constituting the drainage system of the
district. If any such district was organized in the circuit court of any
county then any of the matters required to be set forth in such report by
items (c) and (d) above may be shown in such report by proper reference to
the book and page of the records of the circuit court by which the district
was organized. The report may be combined with a petition for authority to
do or perform any of the acts authorized by this Act and shall be
accompanied by a current financial report. Upon being filed with the court
the report shall be presented to the court, which shall fix the day and
hour that the report shall be heard. The clerk shall give notice of the
hearing substantially in the form hereinafter provided in Section 4-21 and
in the manner and for the length of time provided in Section 4-22. At the
hearing any person interested may appear and be heard. Upon the conclusion
of the hearing the court may approve, modify, or disapprove the report
either in its original form or as modified and thereafter all proceedings
in such district shall be had in such court in the same manner as though
the district had been organized under this Act. If the commissioners of
such a district fail to so report to the court within one year after the
effective date of this Act, then any owner of land within the district or
other person interested therein may file such a report or petition the
court for an order directing the commissioners to file such a report, which
petition may be heard on such notice as the court may direct. If any
commissioners fail to file such a report after being ordered to do so by
the court, then the court may remove them or proceed against them as being
in contempt of court.
(Source: Laws 1965, p. 678.)
(70 ILCS 605/1-7) (from Ch. 42, par. 1-7)
Sec. 1-7. 
		
		Civil Practice Law to Apply - Time for Hearings.)
The provisions of the  Civil Practice Law and all existing and future
amendments and modifications thereof and the Supreme Court Rules
now or hereafter
adopted in relation to that Law shall apply to all proceedings
hereunder except
as otherwise provided in this Act. Whenever, by this Act, the court is
required to fix the time for hearing any petition or other matter the
court may set the same down for hearing on any day of court.
(Source: P.A. 82-783.)