Lake Zurich to engage community on village's post-COVID 19 future

Lake Zurich Mayor Thomas Poynton said he believes the new Community Committee on Lake Zurich's Future Priorities will provide good ideas to help bring the village back from COVID-19, in addition to the group's original charge to offer input on long-term infrastructure projects.

The group will host its first public meeting Tuesday morning via Zoom. Poynton said he sees the discussions, led by the group but open to resident input, as a chance for the village to engage more deeply with residents on how they want Lake Zurich to look going forward.

“I think this is a good opportunity to create a forum for good ideas,” Poynton said. “Positive, sensible, safe, incremental solutions we haven't thought of in the past.”

The first meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Members of the public can find a link to participate on the Village of Lake Zurich Facebook page.

The group is made up of 29 active members of the village community from different walks of life and representing each village neighborhood.

In March, the village board approved hiring EO Sullivan, a consultant based in Libertyville, to lead the community engagement effort. The committee was initially formed to help discuss the future of the Paulus Park Barn after the November 2019 fire and the aging and undersized Fire Station #1, in addition to other possible infrastructure projects.

Poynton said he thinks COVID-19 makes the committee's discussions even more important because the village will need to continue to spend money smartly especially during what could be a national economic downturn.

Kyle Kordell, assistant to the village manager, said originally the engagement sessions were to be in person, but the pandemic changed that. Kordell said the timeline remains the same.

“People seem to be very engaged online and we should have no problem getting many good insights into the future of Lake Zurich's spending priorities,” Kordell said.

There will be three engagement sessions in April; the next two will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 18, and at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 29.

The consultant will assemble the feedback into a menu of options and determine what funding mechanisms should be pursued to pay for projects.

The options will be ranked before the village board begins discussing and reviewing the final plan. Kordell said the four-phase process should run until August.