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Daily Herald
December 12, 2001
Your editorial "Kane beltway opposition ill-conceived" misses the point of the county's efforts to moderate
the impact of its growth and to encourage agriculture as an important segment of the county.
The proposed highway - better labeled a "sprawlway" - would be a development magnet, spreading growth
at each intersection as it runs from Interstate 80 to Interstate 90.
Kane County has a plan for guiding its growth through 2020, balancing the pressures of growth and the desire to
retain its current character. As you point out in your editorial, that character is "under stress." But
the stress can be controlled. Development and sprawl is not as inevitable as you suggest.
The sprawlway proposal, however, flies in the face of the careful work by the county to manage its growth through
planning and by protecting farmland and open space. The highway would do more than change the character of the
county. It would foster additional transportation woes as well as further tax the schools and other governmental
services.
We residents of Kane County have a choice. We can blindly accept the highway being imposed on us, or we can work
within the county's 2020 vision for sensible development. We can simply say "no" to the sprawlway.
Jan Strasma
Maple Park