County sounds off about maps for 2030 Plan

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WOODSTOCK – Numbered push pins began to sink Friday into the display maps of the county’s proposed 2030 Land Use Plan.

Politicians, special interests and concerned citizens mulled among the land use maps at Friday’s open house, submitting written and oral comments in the final months before the plan goes before the McHenry County Board for approval.

The numbered pins indicated each written concern.

More than 50 people in the first two hours of the open house signed in to review the maps and watch a presentation on the plan, which if approved will act as a nonbinding guide to the county’s development over the next two decades.

Some of the comments from the open house, which continues today, will be incorporated into the plan, said Charles Eldredge, chairman of the Regional Planning Commission that spent the past three years developing the plan.

“I think there has been a good number of comments,” Eldredge said. “I think we’ll find the comments to be productive, and will help us come up with the final map.”

The commission will review the comments at meetings Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, when it likely will vote to approve the plan and pass it on to the County Board, Planning and Development Director Dennis Sandquist said.

Many people generally liked what they saw, but like Wonder Lake resident Dave Brandt, they had concerns, such as what he called a bias toward residential sprawl.

Brandt, a conservation and groundwater specialist with the USDA, also worried that several zones marked for potential industrial and manufacturing use sat atop groundwater recharge areas, and potentially could contaminate aquifers.

“That could end up as a nickel-plating plant,” Brandt said, pointing to an area identified for industry on Route 20 just west of Union. “That could be god-awful stuff.”

Emily Berendt, a member of the McHenry County Green Alliance that has raised concerns throughout the process, did so again Friday.

She submitted comments that the plan should guide population growth, rather than projected growth guiding the plan, and aired concerns about residential sprawl, water resources and properly funding farmland preservation.

Lifelong Woodstock resident Ben Widoff said he appreciated the forum and hoped that the plan incorporated the best of the agendas of all affected groups.

Widoff and his neighbors earlier this year were successful in their 2˝-year fight to prevent a gravel pit from opening in Seneca Township.

“This gives the average person the ability to come in here and give their feedback,” Widoff said.

The commission will give the approved plan and maps to the County Board Planning and Development Committee, which will conduct its own review and public hearings throughout the county.

A vote by the full County Board is expected in December or January.

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If you go

The second open house to allow people to view and comment on the 2030 Plan’s land use chapter and maps will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at the county Administration Building, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock.

On the Net

To download the land use chapter and its maps, visit the commission’s Web site at www.mchenrycounty2030plan.com.

To comment

Residents have until Friday to comment on the land use chapter and maps. People attending the two open-house meetings can submit verbal and written comments there. People also can e-mail written comments to 2030plan@co.mchenry.il.us, or mail them to McHenry County 2030 Plan, Department of Planning and Development, McHenry County Government Center, 2200 N. Seminary Ave., Woodstock, IL 60098.