Campton Hills seeks resident input on future

If the process of formulating the first comprehensive plan in Campton Hills’ history was a race, then open space would have an early and hearty lead.

In a planning session Monday attended by about 110 people, open space emerged as one trait residents enjoy in their village and want to preserve.

“I like Campton Hills the way it is,” said Tom Freda, an area resident for 17 years. “If I wanted to move to Schaumburg or Elk Grove Village, I’d move there.”

Other priorities and concerns expressed to representatives of the village’s plan commission and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, which is assisting the village with the comprehensive plan, included lot size density, pedestrian and bike trails, traffic congestion, emergency services, restricting new streetlights, well water, farm preservation, property values and reducing taxes.

Monday’s meeting was part of an information-gathering process to develop the comprehensive plan, which will set the priorities and guidelines carrying the village to 2025.

When the village was incorporated in 2007, it used elements from the long-range plans from Kane County and Campton Township. Now, village officials say, it’s time to put a new stamp on what will be the future directions will be.

“Everybody has a different vision,” Village President Patsy Smith said. “It’s trying to grasp what are the different suggestions and ideas.”

The planning process is expected to run through at least May 2012; a follow-up meeting will he held in the fall.

During Monday’s meeting, residents “voted” via a keypad that looked like a miniature calculator. The village also sent out surveys in 2008 to get input.

“We have the vision and then it comes down to how we put that vision into place,” said Rolf Frederick, plan commission chairman.