Lake in the Hills village board candidates weigh in on economic development

Lake in the Hills village board candidates have varying ideas on promoting economic growth in town, including possibly getting an off-track betting parlor and car dealerships.

The six candidates vying for three 4-year term seats on April 7 include incumbents Frank Covone, Russ Ruzanski and Ray Bogdanowski, who are facing challengers Tyna Zarecky, Paula Yensen and Bill Dustin.

"I would like to see some destination locations come into the village," said Covone, 56, who served on the village planning and zoning commission before being appointed to the board in May 2013.

That includes more stand-alone restaurants and perhaps an off-track betting parlor within an upscale restaurant/bar - something the village board has considered in the past - since the nearest ones are in McHenry and Hoffman Estates, Covone added.

Zarecky, 49, a political newcomer, said she would like to see more services in town for existing residents.

"I'm not against OTB, but I don't think that necessarily is the way to go," she said. "It sounds to me that OTB is quick and easy, but we shouldn't just look for something that's quick and easy. We should look for something that's more sustainable. Lake in the Hills is not much of a destination place. Adding more things that we don't need as residents to generate money, I think it's nonsense."

The other candidates said they would consider the OTB idea but also emphasized there are parts of town that need to be further developed.

"That is something we want to most certainly avoid becoming a gambling destination," said Ruzanski, 68, a village board member since 2011 and chairman of the village's Veterans Memorial Committee. "I would like to see us develop in other ways. An area to develop is the airport itself."

Ruzanski said the village already has made significant improvements to modernize its municipal airport, mostly due to Federal Aviation Administration mandates. That includes hiring a full-time airport manager.

The village needs to maximize the airport's usage as "there's still an appeal to the airport even though the runway is short," he said.

"We're also going to try to get food in there at some point," Ruzanski said.

He added, the village is actively courting car dealerships to locate on Route 47.

Yensen, a former village board member from 2001-2008 who also served on the McHenry County Board from 2008-2014, said the village should work more closely with the McHenry County Economic Development Corp. to attract diverse businesses to the Randall Road corridor.

"We need to work collaboratively with all the other government agencies," she said. As for OTB, she said it needs to be situated in a strategic location in a highly commercial environment. "A feasibility study has to occur to do a cost-benefit analysis."

Bogdanowski, 56, who has served on the village board since 2001 and been its budget officer since 2004, said the village ultimately needs to grow its sales tax base.

"It behooves us to build that up, fill up the empty storefronts," he said. "Long term, the village is very fortunate to have a mile and a half strip of land on Route 47."

Officials can learn from mistakes made in the Randall Road corridor when developing Route 47, he added.

"Huntley is going to wind up being larger than any of the communities around us," Bogdanowski said. "We can benefit off that growth."

Dustin, 68, a business owner, Realtor and a planning and zoning commissioner, agreed that filling vacant spaces should be the village's priority.

"Somebody has to go out and find the businesses," he said, adding officials need to focus more on developing the village's portions of routes 31 and 47 moving forward.