Lake Zurich finishing five-year plan with focus on infrastructure

Most suburban communities have five-year plans, but Lake Zurich is on the cusp of accomplishing something Village Manager Ray Keller says is unusual - sticking to one.

Keller, who gave the annual State of the Village address this week, said 2019 is the fifth year in the village's five-year plan.

"From my experience, that's an incredibly rare thing in municipal government," Keller said. "Every community has a five-year plan, but after about the second year, they seem to lose momentum, or there's a change at the board level or the staff level and they implement a new five-year plan."

The address normally is given by Mayor Thomas Poynton, but he was unable to attend Monday night's event because he is recovering from quadruple bypass surgery. Poynton, 72, underwent surgery Dec. 31 and said he will return to his regular village duties in March.

Poynton had teamed with Keller and former Village Manager Jason Slowinski to deliver the annual address since becoming mayor in 2013. He said he reviewed and approved Keller's address.

Among the 2018 accomplishments Keller highlighted were: the completion of the Sunset Pavillion, the new beer garden at Breezewald Park built by the village and operated by the company that owns Scoreboard Bar and Grill; the demolition of the Kmart building at 225 S. Rand Road, which was closed in 2002; and the construction of Somerset by the Lake, a downtown apartment complex built by developer Foxford Communities at 40 W. Main St.

Keller said the coming year will be all about infrastructure as the village plans to spend more than $5 million on projects and new service equipment.

A big chunk of the money will go toward road projects, including work on Old Rand Road from Main Street to Rand Road.

The village will also spend $560,000 on a water main project along Rand Road, and the white water tower at Paulus Park that bears the village's name will be repainted, Keller said.

And because the current five-year plan is ending, Keller said the village will begin to make a new one.

"We're excited to think about what might be possible heading into the next five years and what's over the horizon for us next," he said.