advertisement

Lake Zurich residents briefed on state of village

Lake Zurich's downtown was among the issues addressed as part of an inaugural State of the Village program for residents Monday.

About 60 spectators filled Ela Area Public Library's meeting room for the evening co-hosted by Mayor Thomas Poynton and Village Manager Jason Slowinski.

Slowinski began the evening by highlighting the village's first report. He noted successes such as 38 new businesses moving to the village in 2014 and a crime index that shows Lake Zurich is safer than 55 percent of U.S. cities.

“What are we working toward?” said Slowinski. “Well, we want Lake Zurich to be the place in Lake County to live, work and to play.”

Before taking questions from the crowd, Poynton addressed the village's downtown.

Lake Zurich has about $28 million in outstanding debt associated with the long-stalled downtown redevelopment. Roughly $16 million of that debt is attributed to property purchases.

Poynton said while private market forces will dictate what downtown becomes, the village is trying to attract developers.

“We've developed new strategies with new energy,” Poynton said. “We've put together a “Moving Lake Zurich Forward Six-Point Action Plan' that we didn't have before.”

Poynton also answered several residents' questions.

• On the likelihood of two Jewel-Osco store continuing to operate less than a mile from east other near Route 22 and Rand Road: “We hope so,” he said. “Keep shopping at them. That's the key.”

• On a controversial proposal for PADS Lake County to place 14 chronically homeless people with mental illness in a Lake County Housing Authority-owned building just outside of village limits: “I think there should be some brotherly love in there somewhere.”

While the State of the Village program is new to Lake Zurich, other suburbs have annual updates for residents in a variety of forums. For example, Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik touched on village topics in her annual speech at a business luncheon at KeyLime Cove Indoor Waterpark Resort in 2014.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.