Newspaper Clippings for
February, 1991
from Pioneer Press 14 February 1991
Plan would protect corridor
By Barbara Bell, Staff Writer
Planner John La Motte thinks Roosevelt Road is a nightmare not to be
repeated locally.
To prevent just such a traffic and aesthetic mess on the U.S. 45 and Ill.
173 corridor in north Lake County, a task force is seeking the cooperation
of neighboring municipalities.
"Maybe this is a golden opportunity for all of us," said La Motte, vice
president of planning at Lohan Associates, a Chicago firm hired to for the
planning.
Currently, most of the land along the U.S. 45 and Ill. 173 corridor is
undeveloped. The task force, which recently adopted a mission statement, is
trying to plan for the future by cooperating on long-range plans for
retail, residential and office/research development.
Preserve history
Preserving the historic Millburn community on U.S. 45 is another objective of
the task force.
Municipalities asked to participate are Lindenhurst, Gurnee, Antioch, Old
Mill Creek and Wadsworth. At the last task force meeting, Lindenhurst was
the only municipality not represented.
If all the municipalities located on the U.S. 45/173 corridor would work
together, they could reach a balanced plan for the future, La Motte said.
"If we can just get Lindenhurst to come to the table, we'd be in good
shape," La Motte said.
Lindenburst Mayor Robert Ratch told the village plan commission chairwoman,
Kris Volodka to stop attending 45/173 meetings last fall when they were
unclear about the plans being discussed. Ratch wondered if plans were being
made for the development of Tempel Farms, home of the Lipizzan stallions.
Ratch wary
Ratch said if planning for the future of the 45/173 corridor is indeed
occurring, Lindenhurst should be part of the process. But he asked why the
task force is meeting at Tempel Farms' guest house if it is making
comprehensive plans for a traffic corridor.
Howard Simpson, Tempel Farms general manager, said the guest house is
centrally located to the parties involved. "It's no other reason other than
it's available. I would be glad to meet at Lindenhurst," he added.
"No covert plan"
Simpson said there is no "covert" plan for Tempel Farms. However, he added,
"It will not always be a farm."
Simpson said he does not understand why Ratch is suspicious of Tempel
Farms.
The task force evolved from Old Mill Creek's efforts to complete a
comprehensive plan. Because most of Tempel Farms' lies within Old Mill
Creek, it joined in the planning.
"They thought, "Let's get everybody together,' " La Motte said of Old Mill
Creek.
La Motte is concerned about a development planned for Lindenhurst that
includes a commercial center along U.S. 45. The development was planned
before the task force was formed, but La Motte does not think good planning
consists of developing small chunks of land as is the case with the
Lindenhurst development. "That might not be the place for it," he said.
No planning
La Motte points to Roosevelt Road in Cook County as an example of
uncoordinated planning that occurred because it passes through multiple
municipalities.
Roosevelt is completely developed, heavily congested, he said, and the
retail businesses and fast food restaurants located there are difficult to
enter because of poor planning "It's a mess," La Motte said.
"I'm very optimistic," La Motte replied when asked what he thought the
chances were of getting affected local municipalities to cooperate on
45/173. He said the timing is right because all the municipalities and the
county are working on land-use plans.
"It can be done," he said "To me it isn't that large of an area."
