Kane, McHenry counties take hard look at growth in Route 47 corridor

Someday, when people again start coming to Kane County in droves, building new homes and looking for jobs, Route 47 will become as busy a thoroughfare as any of the other major county roads.

Kane and McHenry County officials, along with 21 other agencies, are taking that eventual growth as a given in creating a study to address what to do about it. A draft of the study came out this week, suggesting compact buildings, preservation of open space and farmland, and focusing business growth in municipalities rather than unincorporated areas are the best ways to handle that inevitable growth.

Route 47 connects 15 communities near the Wisconsin border to the southern end of Kane County. Those municipalities are expected to see a combined population growth of 440 percent by 2030. That would convert an area of about 37,400 people to a more congested population of more than 200,000. Huntley, Hampshire, Pingree Grove, Elburn and Sugar Grove are expected to see the largest population growth, according to the study. Jobs, however, are not expected to immediately follow all those people, which will place more strain on local communities to support those people as well as local roads to handle all the commuting to jobs that exist elsewhere.

The report says Huntley, Hampshire and Pingree Grove already have a large surplus of retail space to handle the population growth. The Woodstock and Sugar Grove areas have deficits and should begin thinking about how to encourage more retail development if they want to be able to accommodate and capitalize on their future residents' dollars.

Jobs - finding and maintaining them - are the focus of most households and local governments these days. The report foresees about 113,000 new jobs eventually coming to the Route 47 corridor by 2030. The majority of that employment growth is expected in Kane County, according to the report. What kind of jobs will your new neighbors have? The industries in the Route 47 corridor expected to see the most growth are:

1. Computer and electronics manufacturing.

2. Glass and ceramics.

3. Transportation equipment manufacturing.

4. Life sciences.

5. Transportation and logistics.

The study is only in draft form, and will be discussed and modified in coming weeks.