County Farm plan moves along

Chances are the open fields that comprise a portion of the Lake County Farm property in Libertyville will remain that way for awhile.

But a master plan generally outlining what would be allowed and where it would be located on the 172-acre campus finally heads to the village board for a vote.

The matter slowly has wound through several sometimes boisterous public hearings and untold hours of discussion in the nearly a year since the county submitted plans for the campus stretching north and west from Winchester Road and Route 21.

“It has been thoroughly discussed and debated,” agreed John Spoden, the village’s director of community development.

That lengthy but key stage ended last week, when the village’s plan commission, which studies such matters and forwards its findings to the village board, recommended approval by a 5-1 vote.

“From a staff standpoint, we’re in full support of the plan. We think it’s very well done. The policy makers have to review it to make sure it’s the best thing for the village,” Spoden added. In this case, there has been a consistent and vocal resident presence giving input on everything from the distance of future buildings from residential areas and their height, to the size of berms, intensity of lighting and traffic impacts. But what could be allowed in the next 20 years still has them asking questions.

“Our concern is still with the building uses,” said Rick Marder, a spokesman for the Citizens United for Healthy Development in Libertyville. “The interpretation by the village staff, we believe, is too broad and incomplete.”

He said residents appreciated the public process but think the discussion should continue.

“The work is not over,” Marder said. A meeting on July 12 would be the earliest the village board would consider the issue, Spoden said.

At a public hearing on June 13, residents of the neighboring Cedar Glen/Adler Park Estates subdivision made several suggestions, including: a moratorium on construction that would add traffic; reducing the master plan time frame to seven to 10 years from 20 years; adding language to cover concerns about “campus glow” from lighting; and adopting a list of prohibited, permitted and special uses. No action was taken on those items as the commission decided it was time to move the matter along.

“How much more money and time do you want to spend on something that may or may not happen?” said plan commissioner Walt Oakley.

“The crux of it is people moving in there had a farm environment and now you’re asking them (county) to look in their crystal ball and say what they’re going to do for the next 20 years. It’s a give and take,” he added.

Marder said the concern is for the “potential for a criminal element” on the campus, which is near a school, parks and a pool. Uses such as parole and probation offices and ex-offender rehab services, for example, should not be permitted, neighbors contend.

A master plan for the campus was required by the village as a condition of approval of the county’s $23 million Central Permit Facility.

That building opened last year as the most recent major addition the property that has been owned by the county since the Civil War era. The Winchester House nursing home as well as sheriff, public works and transportation facilities have long occupied space on the campus.

As recommended, about 40 percent of the remaining property would stay as open space. The rest is divided into eight “development zones” but specific uses are not outlined.

“That’s because we don’t have any plans,” County Administrator Barry Burton said.

County and village officials say several adjustments already have been made. The county voluntarily eliminated correctional institutions from the mix, for example. And though never identified as a possible use, hospitals also have been dropped.

“Through the process, our setback conditions increased, the number of stories was reduced and the screening requirements became more dense and taller,” said Matt Guarnery, project manager for the county.

The next addition on the campus could be a new Winchester House to be located west of the permit building.

“It most likely will occur within the next two or three years,” Burton said.

The 18-acre area, including the current Winchester House along the west side of Milwaukee Avenue, is a prime spot. Under the master plan, that would be allowed for a mix of uses if the county were to sell the property.

“We’ve laid it out that way just for flexibility,” Burton said. “We just gave ourselves an option.”

He said the county is hesitant to restrict its property rights but has been a “good neighbor” for more than 150 years and will continue to be one.