Panel endorses land use proposal

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WOODSTOCK – The 2030 Land Use Plan is off to the McHenry County Board after almost three years of work.

The Regional Planning Commission tasked with developing the plan voted Thursday, 11-1, to forward it to the McHenry County Board after a final review that lasted about four hours. Commission members reviewed changes made to the important land-use chapter and maps in response to public comment gathered at recent hearings and gave the rest of the plan a final review, as well.

If approved by the County Board after its own review, the plan will act as a nonbinding template to guide growth and balance it with agriculture and open space. It will replace the 2010 Plan approved 16 years ago and still used by the county because of a failed attempt to develop a 2020 Plan.

“I think everyone is looking forward to finishing,” commission Chairman Charles Eldredge said before the meeting.

“I think the majority of the commission feels we’ve reached a lot of compromises, and a very balanced plan,” Eldredge said.

But most of the audience members who spoke Thursday seemed to think otherwise. Many, such as McHenry resident Mike Hoag, said the plan opened up too much of the county to development and that it did not adequately address predicted future water shortages in certain parts of the county if significant growth continues.

Hoag and Hartland Township Supervisor Evert Evertsen asked the commission to reject the plan. Evertsen and other audience members said the commission allowed its projection of 220,000 more residents over the next two decades to drive the plan, rather than having the plan drive increased population.

The harshest criticism came from Patricia Kennedy, a member of the McHenry County Green Alliance. Besides calling the population projection unrealistic, she said the majority of the board “betrayed the trust of the people” by “serving a tiny minority rather than the huge majority.”

“May your children and grandchildren forgive you, for they will certainly have to pay for the bad decisions you are making here tonight,” Kennedy said.

Commission member Ronald Bauman cast the sole opposing vote. Bauman, who owns and operates Marwood-Ridge Farm and represents agricultural interests on the commission, could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

The County Board Planning and Development Committee will take possession of the plan next week, with three-hour review sessions tentatively scheduled for Nov. 12-13, said Chairwoman Tina Hill, R-Woodstock. Committee member Ersel Schuster, R-Woodstock, has called the plan as presented “a recipe for paving over the county with rooftops and asphalt,” and said she would work to change it.

Any changes the committee suggests will be made by county staff, and the plan then will go to public review through a series of countywide meetings, Planning and Development Director Dennis Sandquist said.

The 2020 Plan failed in 2006 because county officials rejected the conservation-friendly plan and had staff create a new one friendlier to development. The County Board rejected both versions and decided to start over with a 2030 Plan.

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