For
many years the Village of Huntley has been a community with the highest quality
requirements for new construction, by means of a strict village building code.
One of the provisions requiring developers within the village to live up to the
highest standards of construction is Huntley’s plumbing code section 303.5.3:
“Absolutely no plastic
materials shall be utilized within the confines of any building for water
distribution. Exception: The use of
CPVC pipe shall be permitted for residential fire suppression systems only.”
The
State of Illinois Department of Public Health has prohibited Huntley from
enforcing this limitation since August 2014, in the interest of “consistency”
among local government plumbing codes within the state. However, the Department
of Public Health does allow local government units to petition for the right to
amend the state plumbing code within their jurisdictions. On September 10
Huntley’s Village Board will vote on a resolution adopting the state plumbing
code verbatim as the Village plumbing code, removing forever the “copper only”
water piping requirement.
Allowing
future large scale residential construction with plastic water pipe will devalue
every house in Huntley with copper water pipe, by putting lower cost plastic
pipe homes on the market to compete with sales of existing copper pipe homes.
Besides harming existing village residents, such a change could also reduce the
village’s real property tax base over time.
While
the health department currently prohibits Huntley from enforcing the “copper
only” plumbing requirement, the Village Board should instruct the village staff
to petition the state for the right to keep the plastic water pipe prohibition
in Huntley’s plumbing code.
