IDOT Interstate Connector News

Crain's Chicago Business
August 5, 2002

Hampshire defies Kane County growth plan

Town spurns 'rural' tag, plans development

Expansion-minded: Mayor William Schmidt says Hampshire's proximity to Interstate 90 and the proposed "Prairie Parkway" makes development of the area inevitable. Photo: Julie Kremen

By Bob Tita

A small town with big plans is challenging Kane County's efforts to manage growth and shield rural areas from rapid development.

Hampshire officials say they don't share county leaders' vision of preserving western Kane County for farming and small towns. They'd rather take advantage of the village's proximity to the Northwest Tollway to become a suburb with townhomes, corporate campuses and warehouses.

Hampshire officials want to annex 728 acres where a developer has proposed building 7 million square feet of offices and warehouses, along with as many as 560 housing units. The unincorporated land, which surrounds Interstate 90 and Brier Hill Road in northwest Kane County, is designated for agriculture and open space in the county's land use plan. But as an incorporated village, Hampshire isn't obligated to abide by the county's zoning once it annexes land.

Kane County's inability to enforce its land use plan in the face of municipal annexations reflects a weakness inherent in the strategies adopted by other counties in recent years to stem the spread of suburban sprawl in unincorporated areas.

Although the countywide plans have earned the praise of regional planners and smart-growth advocates, county planning officials have little more than the power of persuasion to get municipalities to follow the plans. The lure of additional tax revenues, new homes, stores and jobs is often more appealing to municipal officials than buying into a long-term philosophy of restrained growth and land development.

Kane County officials and growth-control advocates worry that Hampshire's bid for a large-scale departure from the county's plan could trigger a frenzy of annexations and haphazard developments in other small towns in the western part of the county.

"As soon as one municipality does it and gets away with it, then others will try to get away with it, " says Brook McDonald, executive director of the Conservation Foundation, a Naperville-based open space and watershed advocacy group. "There is really nothing the county can legally do about it."

The Illinois Department of Transportation's (IDOT) plans for an expressway through western Kane, Kendall and Grundy counties to link Interstates 90, 88 and 80 is expected to intensify the development pressures, as real estate interests scramble to secure favorable locations along the roadway's corridor long before construction starts.

Last week, IDOT proposed running the southern leg of this "Prairie Parkway" through the western part of Kane County. Although IDOT has not yet formally identified a path for the northern leg, preliminary plans and the location of the southern leg suggest that Hampshire would likely be at the expressway's northern terminus with I-90.

With such a location, Mayor William Schmidt says it's inevitable that Hampshire will attract more developers than farmers in the coming years.

"The geography of the region is driving what can and will happen," says Mr. Schmidt, a retired high school social studies teacher. "My contention always has been that Hampshire is not a typical farm town. Certainly we had that atmosphere, but you can see year by year how the village is expanding."

Hampshire's population grew more than 57% between 1990 and 2000, to 2,900, and is now estimated at more than 3,000. And the town already has annexed a 1,300-acre parcel for residential and commercial development.

Subject to IEPA approval

Hampshire is just as free to annex the 728 acres where developer Van Vlissingen & Co. wants to build the mixed-use project that's at the center of the current controversy. But the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) must approve the expansion of the village's sewage treatment plant and water utilities to serve the area.

County officials have registered their objection to the expansion, contending the development of the property wasn't accounted for in the long-range projections for traffic volume, population and employment growth or water management.

"This proposed development is inconsistent with the land use plan," says Philip Bus, Kane County director of planning and development. "We know that projects of this scope and scale have impacts that are regional in nature."

An irrational expectation

The staff of the Northeast Illinois Planning Commission, which is responsible for reviewing proposed changes to water utility territories, concurred and is urging the commission to recommend that the IEPA deny Hampshire's expansion application.

Charles Lamphere, president of Lincolnshire-based Van Vlissingen, says the county's "open space" designation should not be a factor in evaluating the project.

"It would be somewhat less than rational to think that the land along the Northwest Tollway would remain in perpetuity as open space," he says.

©2002 by Crain Communications Inc.