(70 ILCS 2605/8) (from Ch. 42, par. 327)
    Sec. 8. Except as otherwise in this Act provided, the sanitary district may acquire by lease, purchase or otherwise within or without its corporate limits, or by condemnation within its corporate limits, any and all real and personal property, right of way and privilege that may be required for its corporate purposes. All moneys for the purchase and condemnation of any property must be paid before possession is taken, or any work done on the premises. In case of an appeal from the Court in which the condemnation proceedings are pending, taken by either party, whereby the amount of damages is not finally determined, the amount of the judgment in the court shall be deposited with the county treasurer of the county in which the judgment is rendered, subject to the payment of damages on orders signed by the judge whenever the amount of damages is finally determined.
    Upon recommendation of the executive director and upon the approval of the board of trustees when any real or personal property, right of way or privilege or any interest therein, or any part thereof of such sanitary district is no longer required for the corporate purposes of the sanitary district it may be sold, vacated or released. Such sales, vacations, or releases may be made subject to such conditions and the retention of such interest therein as may be deemed for the best interest of such sanitary district as recommended by the executive director and approved by the board of trustees.
    However, the sanitary district may enter into a lease of a building or a part thereof, or acquire title to a building already constructed or to be constructed, for the purpose of securing office space for its administrative corporate functions, the period of such lease not to exceed 15 years except as authorized by the provisions of Section 8b of this Act. In the event of the purchase of such property for administrative corporate functions, the sanitary district may execute a mortgage or other documents of indebtedness as may be required for the unpaid balance, to be paid in not more than 15 annual installments. Annual installments on the mortgage or annual payment on the lease shall be considered a current corporate expense of the year in which they are to be paid, and the amount of such annual installment or payment shall be included in the Annual Appropriation and Corporate Tax Levy Ordinances. Such expense may be incurred, notwithstanding the provisions, if any applicable, contained in any other Sections of this Act.
    The sanitary district may dedicate to the public for highway purposes any of its real property and the dedications may be made subject to such conditions and the retention of such interests therein as considered in the best interests of the sanitary district by the board of trustees upon recommendation of the executive director.
    The sanitary district may lease to others for any period of time, not to exceed 99 years, upon the terms as its board of trustees upon recommendation of the executive director may determine, any such real property, right-of-way or privilege, or any interest therein or any part thereof, which is in the opinion of the board of trustees and executive director of the sanitary district no longer required for its corporate purposes or which may not be immediately needed for such purposes. The leases may contain such terms and conditions, including restrictions as to permissible use of the real property, and retain such interests therein as considered in the best interests of the sanitary district by the board of trustees upon recommendation of the executive director. Negotiations and execution of such leases and preparatory activities in connection therewith must comply with Section 8c of this Act. The sanitary district may grant easements and permits for the use of any such real property, right-of-way, or privilege, which will not in the opinion of the board of trustees and executive director of the sanitary district interfere with the use thereof by the sanitary district for its corporate purposes. Such easements and permits may contain such conditions and retain such interests therein as considered in the best interests of the sanitary district by the board of trustees upon recommendation of the executive director.
    No sales, vacations, dedications for highway purposes, or leases for periods in excess of 5 years, of the following described real estate, may be made or granted by the sanitary district without the approval in writing of the Director of Natural Resources of the State of Illinois:
    All the right-of-way of the Calumet-Sag Channel of the sanitary district extending from the Little Calumet River near Blue Island, Illinois, to the right-of-way of the main channel of the sanitary district near Sag, Illinois.
    Lots 1, 3, 5, 21, 30, 31, 32, 33, 46, 48, 50, 52, 88, 89, 89a, 90, 91, 130, 132, 133, those parts of Lots 134 and 139 lying northeasterly of a tract of land leased to the Corn Products Manufacturing Company from January 1, 1908, to December 31, 2006; 1000 feet of Lot 141 lying southwesterly of and adjoining the above mentioned leased tract measured parallel with the main channel of the sanitary district; Lots 166, 168, 207, 208, and part of Lot 211 lying northeasterly of a line 1500 feet southwesterly of the center line of Stephen Street, Lemont, Illinois, and parallel with said street measured parallel with said main channel; and Lot 212 of the Sanitary District Trustees Subdivision of right-of-way from the north and south center line of Section 30, Township 39 North, Range 14 East of the Third Principal Meridian, to Will County line.
    That part of the right-of-way of the main channel of the sanitary district in Section 14, Township 37 North, Range 11 East of the Third Principal Meridian, lying southerly of said main channel, northerly of the Northerly Reserve Line of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and westerly of the Center line of the old channel of the Des Plaines River.
    That part of said main channel right-of-way in Section 35, Township 37 North, Range 10 East of the Third Principal Meridian, lying east of said main channel and south of a line 1,319.1 feet north of and parallel with the south line of said Section 35.
    That part of said main channel right-of-way in the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 2, Township 36 North, Range 10 East of the Third Principal Meridian, lying east of said main channel.
    That part of said main channel right-of-way lying south of Ninth Street in Lockport, Illinois.
    Notwithstanding any other law, if any surplus real estate is located in an unincorporated territory and if that real estate is contiguous to only one municipality, 60 days before the sale of that real estate, the sanitary district shall notify in writing the contiguous municipality of the proposed sale. Prior to the sale of the real estate, the municipality shall notify in writing the sanitary district that the municipality will or will not annex the surplus real estate. If the contiguous municipality will annex such surplus real estate, then coincident with the completion of the sale of that real estate by the sanitary district, that real estate shall be automatically annexed to the contiguous municipality.
    All sales of real estate by the sanitary district must be for cash, to the highest bidder upon open competitive bids, and the proceeds of the sales may be used only for the construction and equipment of sewage disposal plants, pumping stations and intercepting sewers and appurtenances thereto, the acquisition of sites and easements therefor, and the financing of the Local Government Assistance Program established under Section 9.6c.
    However, the sanitary district may:
    (a) Remise, release, quit claim and convey, without the approval of the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Illinois acting by and through its Director, to the United States of America without any consideration to be paid therefor, in aid of the widening of the Calumet-Sag Channel of the sanitary district by the United States of America, all those certain lands, tenements and hereditaments of every kind and nature of that portion of the established right-of-way of the Calumet-Sag Channel lying east of the east line of Ashland Avenue, in Blue Island, Illinois, and south of the center line of the channel except such portion thereof as is needed for the operation and maintenance of and access to the controlling works lock of the sanitary district;
    (b) Without the approval of the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Illinois acting by and through its Director, give and grant to the United States of America without any consideration to be paid therefor the right, privilege and authority to widen the Calumet-Sag Channel and for that purpose to enter upon and use in the work of such widening and for the disposal of spoil therefrom all that part of the right-of-way of the Calumet-Sag Channel owned by the sanitary district lying south of the center line of the Calumet-Sag Channel from its connection with the main channel of the sanitary district to the east line of Ashland Avenue in Blue Island, Illinois;
    (c) Make alterations to any structure made necessary by such widening and to construct, reconstruct or otherwise alter the existing highway bridges of the sanitary district across the Calumet-Sag Channel;
    (d) Give and grant to the United States of America without any consideration to be paid therefor the right to maintain the widened Calumet-Sag Channel without the occupation or use of or jurisdiction over any property of the sanitary district adjoining and adjacent to such widened channel;
    (e) Acquire by lease, purchase, condemnation or otherwise, whatever land, easements or rights of way, not presently owned by it, that may be required by the United States of America in constructing the Calumet-Sag Navigation Project, as approved in Public Law 525, 79th Congress, Second Session as described in House Document No. 677 for widening and dredging the Calumet-Sag Channel, in improving the Little Calumet River between the eastern end of the Sag Channel and Turning Basin No. 5, and in improving the Calumet River between Calumet Harbor and Lake Calumet;
    (f) Furnish free of cost to the United States all lands, easements, rights-of-way and soil disposal areas necessary for the new work and for subsequent maintenance by the United States;
    (g) Provide for the necessary relocations of all utilities.
    Whatever land acquired by the sanitary district may thereafter be determined by the Board of Trustees upon recommendation of the executive director as not being needed by the United States for the purposes of constructing and maintaining the Calumet-Sag Navigation Project as above described, shall be retained by the sanitary district for its corporate purposes, or be sold, with all convenient speed, vacated or released (but not leased) as its Board of Trustees upon recommendation of the executive director may determine: All sales of such real estate must be for cash, to the highest bidder upon open, competitive bids, and the proceeds of the sales may be used only for the purpose of paying principal and interest upon the bonds authorized by this Act, and if no bonds are then outstanding, for the purpose of paying principal and interest upon any general obligation bonds of the sanitary district, and for corporate purposes of the sanitary district. When the proceeds are used to pay bonds and interest, proper abatement shall be made in the taxes next extended for such bonds and interest.
(Source: P.A. 95-604, eff. 9-11-07; 95-923, eff. 1-1-09.)