(70 ILCS 605/8-6) (from Ch. 42, par. 8-6)
Sec. 8-6.
Annexation - Hearing - Order - Appeals.
Any owner of land lying in the territory sought to be annexed may file
objections to the petition at or prior to the time fixed for hearing and,
after filing such objections may be heard with reference thereto and
introduce evidence thereon. At the hearing, the court shall determine
whether the lands sought to be annexed are connected with a district drain
or have been or will be benefited or protected by any work of the district
done or ordered to be done and, if the petition was filed by the
landowners, whether the lands sought to be annexed are within the same
natural drainage basin or involved in the same system of drainage as lands
within the district and whether the petition is signed by the requisite
number of owners owning the required proportion of the area sought to be
annexed. If the court finds for the petitioners, it shall order the lands
annexed to the district. The order of annexation shall include a
description of the territory annexed and a description of the boundaries of
that territory. The order shall be final and separate or joint appeals may
be taken by the parties affected thereby, as in other civil cases. The
taking of an appeal or the reversal of the order upon any such appeal shall
not impair or invalidate such annexation as to lands not involved in the
appeal, unless the reversal of the order by the reviewing court as to the
owners so appealing would work a substantial hardship on the owners or some
of the owners not appealing and the appeal has been made to operate as a
stay of the enforcement of the judgment. When any such
an appeal is taken, the commissioners or any
landowner not appealing may, within 15 days after the notice of appeal has
been made to operate as a stay of the enforcement of the judgment,
move the trial court to stay the
proceedings as to the owners of the lands not appealing, pending the
determination of the appeal, upon the grounds that the reversal of the
order by the reviewing court as to the owners appealing would work a
substantial hardship on all or some of the owners not appealing. In the
event the proceedings are so stayed and the order appealed from is
thereafter affirmed, or the appeal is dismissed, then, upon the receipt of
final process from the reviewing court the trial court shall vacate the
stay and the proceedings shall thereafter continue in the same manner as
though no appeal had been taken. In the event the proceedings are so stayed
and the order appealed from is reversed then, upon the receipt of final
process from the reviewing court the trial court may modify or vacate the
original order as to the lands not appealing as justice may
require under the circumstances.
(Source: P.A. 83-345.)
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