Pat Kennedy: Strong Words to the 2030 Plan Commission!

Good Evening,

I’m Patricia Kennedy, 20712 Streit Road, rural Harvard. I am speaking as a resident, a tax payer, a voter and as someone who cares deeply for this county and people who live here. I must speak to you this evening directly and openly.

First off, Chairman Eldridge, I want to thank you for your consideration of the public when you gave the public an opportunity to speak to all of you at both the beginning and the ending of each meeting. I think that was thoughtful and wise. Thank you.

Next, I want to speak of a P&D committee meeting that I was at a few years ago. The Imagine McHenry County group had just made a presentation and the Chair of the Committee spoke in strong support of the concept and the survey that was about to be initiated. She said with great conviction and pleasure that the results of that survey would be the corner stone, the bedrock, that the 2030 Plan would be built on. This was later supported at a County Board meeting.

However, most of this commission has ignored that survey. You have also almost completely ignored the many comments made to you when the text of the Plan draft was presented to the public a short time ago. And as of your last meeting you have almost completely ignored what the people ask of you on their review of the presentation of the Land Use Plan Map and the Land Use Plan Map chapter. In fact, some of you have ridiculed people who made comments and used the wrong words simply because they are unfamiliar with the terms. You understood what they were saying, but chose to mock them instead. How Dare You.

The public has spoken to you time after time, and time after time the majority of you have refused to listen to them. A few of you have listened and have upheld your duty to represent the huge majority of the people and of good planning precepts. To those few, I am Very grateful.

A few of you put together thoughtful, well reasoned, and reflective chapters, followed good planning practices and were also guided by what the people of this County requested. The rest of you seemed to be listening to - Well, how can I say, I probably shouldn’t say. You certainly WERE NOT following good planning practices or the huge majority of the public or the municipalities. The majority of you chose to use population projections as the basis of this Plan - And you chose to bring together your Own numbers. Although neighboring counties have been and are using NIPC (now CMAP) population projections and our own Department of Transportation largely uses those same projections YOU chose to make up your own. You also chose to project a continuation of the recent few years, ignore national trends created by the current deep recession and experts’ opinions that the economy will not rebound into the same type and scope of development it left behind. The years that you used had unprecedentedly rapid car-culture growth that sprawled into the countryside. How short sighted.

Some of you have helped to put together excellent work and then apparently did not have the courage to stand behind that work. In some cases you have argued for what “your clients would accept”. That is shocking, disappointing and something that I hope you will correct in the future.

Speaking to the majority of you, you have betrayed the trust of the people, ignored what they have ask of you time after time and appear to be serving a tiny minority rather the huge majority. That is despicable and unforgivable. It is my desire that your positions and actions on this plan be made known to as many people as possible and as quickly as possible. May your children and grandchildren forgive you for they will certainly have to pay for the bad decisions you are making here tonight.

Thank you, Chairman Eldridge.

Evert Evertsen, Hartland Township Supervisor: Remarks to the 2030 Plan Commission

Why you should vote down the 2030 Plan you worked so hard at.

The 2030 Plan Commission lost its credibility when it permitted the open use of a Plat book in the planning discussion process. Who owns land should not influence how any government plans Land use but it clearly did time after time.

The 2030 Plan Commission lost its credibility when comments by commission members indicated they worked for clients in the county through the use of the term “my clients” during discussion.

The 2030 Plan Commission lost its credibility when the citizens adamantly requested the protection of our agriculture and our water supply but the commission like a locomotive without an engineer continued down the track of: --WE MUST ACCOMMODATE ANOTHER 222,000 PEOPLE -- WE MUST PLAN WITHIN THE UNINCORPORATED AREAS OF THE COUNTY FOR INDUSTRY! Commission members stated they had no choice but to ignore constraints of water and or agriculture because they had to meet development requirements for 222,000 more people.

The 2030 Plan Commission lost its credibility when time after time the submitted plans of municipalities and townships were ignored if it did not meet the requirements of the previously described locomotive.

To resolve this I request you vote no on this plan.

Commission Sends Plan on to Planning and Development Committee

The 2030 Plan Commission last evening voted 11 to 1 to approve and send the plan on to the next stage, the Planning and Development Committee of the County Board. The single NO vote was Ron Bauman, the only farmer on the commission, who said the plan did not do enough to protect farmland. We thank Ron for standing up for his convictions. The plan will be presented to the County Board at their meeting next Tuesday morning, and Planning and Development will hold a series of meetings to discuss it. Schedule will be posted here as soon as it's confirmed. They still can make changes, as can the county board with amendments from the floor on voting day. So stay tuned and keep you comments coming. County Board email addresses:
County Board 2009
AMMiller@co.mchenry.il.us, mmarco@aol.com, RXBless@co.mchenry.il.us, YMBarnes@co.mchenry.il.us, JLHeisler@co.mchenry.il.us, JSBreeden@co.mchenry.il.us, kdkoehler@co.mchenry.il.us, BMWheeler@co.mchenry.il.us, EJDvorak@co.mchenry.il.us, KBSchmidt@co.mchenry.il.us, MLDonner@co.mchenry.il.us, JDHammerand@co.mchenry.il.us, PJMerkel@co.mchenry.il.us, SFSalgado@co.mchenry.il.us, SXDraffkorn@co.mchenry.il.us, JPKennedy@co.mchenry.il.us, PEYensen@co.mchenry.il.us, TRHill@co.mchenry.il.us, countyboard@co.mchenry.il.us, DPRyan@co.mchenry.il.us, ecschuster@co.mchenry.il.us, MTMcCann@co.mchenry.il.us, RXDonley@co.mchenry.il.us

“… anybody who said 'Don’t rezone this property,’ I eliminated from consideration."

Did you think your 2030 plan commission was listening to you?

Your 2030 Planning Commission has held the first of three meetings to review the comments you submitted on the Land Use Chapter and Map. Some minor changes (that are probably big changes to those individual requesting them) were made, but the major issues addressed in your comments - population projections and resource protection - were not addressed. They moved some things around on the map, but did not eliminate any of the sprawl. One notable change is the removal of the large industrial area northwest of Woodstock and its replacement south of Marengo. The large amounts of estate (1-5 acre) designation remain intact to encourage development in the middle of farmland where the lack of roads, utilities and services will increase taxes for all of us.

Among the many quotable quotes from the RPC over the past two years is the new one in the title of this post. The statement was in response to some of your comments where you used the word "zone" instead of the word "plan". The complete quote is:

"Many, many of the comments that I read and heard that related to these (areas under discussion) dealt with zoning and anybody who said 'Don't rezone this property,’ I eliminated from consideration."

The next meeting of the Plan Commission is Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 6 pm, but please verify the time if you go. They will review comments that pertain to the text of the 2030 Land Use Chapter. There may be one more meeting and then the plan goes to the Planning and Development Committee of the County Board before it goes to the full board.

Planning and Development can make changes. Maybe they will be better listeners. The following County Board members are on the P&D Committee: Lynn Orphal, (815) 455-0303; Mary Donner,(815) 459-5954; Tina Hill (Chair),(815) 347-4222; Marc Munaretto, (815) 385-5590; Sue Draffkorn (815)653-6057; Randy Donley, (815) 790-9435; Ersel Schuster, (815) 338-2207. Hill and Orphal are up for reelection in 2010. They will be discussing the plan at 9 am on November 11, at the County Building on Ware Rd. Please attend and tell them what you want in YOUR County Plan.

Hartland Township and Bull Valley: Respect Our Plans!

Hartland Township Supervisor Evert Evertsen has graciously consented to allow the Alliance to publish Hartland's Motion and Resolution to the 2030 Planning Commission. Complete with detailed references, Hartland makes a clear and concise argument for better protection of water and farmland in their township.

Follow the link at the bottom to read the actual documents.


SUMMARY OF HARTLAND TOWNSHIP RESPONSE TO DRAFT 2030 LAND USE

Ø Hartland Township requested that their 2010 Land Use PLAN, updated in 2005, be used for their input to the 2030 McHenry County Land Use Plan.
Ø Any increase in McHenry County population will negatively impact the availability of potable water in the over-developed eastern portion of the county.
Ø Increased population will elevate the demand for “black roads” which will require the increased use of ice melting materials.
Ø Current areas Zoned as Agricultural, currently shown in yellow and orange, should be colored as Agricultural on the map – not with other colors.
Ø Areas zoned as Estate should be colored as Estate.
Ø Golf Courses should all be colored the same.
Ø Water is mentioned in the PLAN 80 times yet Industrial areas are being planned for areas which are prone to flooding and are placed in areas susceptible to aquifer contamination.
Ø The proposed Plan Draft contains the word Land 412 times and the word farm 161 times but Agricultural land is planned to be reduced by 33.54 to 35.45 percent.
Ø The proposed Plan contains the word “people” only 17 times but the premise that there will be a population increase of 70 percent is consistent throughout the Plan.
Ø We cannot stress enough the need to fill current empty Office and factory space:
Ø No new development should be planned for outside the 1.5 mile zone encompassing current incorporated municipal boundaries.
Ø Open question: What caused the reduction in the acres of Government/Institutions/Utilities and Open Space? (Article H)

THE VILLAGE OF BULL VALLEY has submitted a Resolution requesting the 2030 Plan Commission to remove the "Estate" designation they have surrounded the Village with and return it to and "Agriculture" designation.
The areas in question currently are in a sensitive aquifer recharge area. The Village wants it to remain Agriculture for as long as possible, but it is designated in the Village plan to eventually be estate development of no less than five acres.
The county defines "Estate" as one to five acres, setting up an inherent conflict where a developer can leverage county against Village to defeat the Village's right to self-determination in planning.

TO READ THE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION ON BOTH RESOLUTIONS CLICK HERE