County's long view is shortsighted

The McHenry County 2030 Comprehensive Plan, as it now stands, is focused on accommodating and even encouraging rapid urbanization. Though the plan's vision statements for the year 2030 foresee increased open space, abundant supplies of clean water, great air quality and preservation of our treasured farmland, the plan is constructed to accommodate a population growth of roughly 222,000 people.

This a population increase of nearly 70 percent in only 20 years. Massive growth and the plan's vision for 2030 are on a collision course. Once again, growth is seen as the answer to our many challenges. Few planners seem to be interested in steering the county toward a sustainable future.

Prime farmland will not be protected by the 2030 plan but will be developed when desired. For example, many square miles of highly productive prime crop land has been designated in the plan for future aggregate mining, allowing global corporations to destroy this treasured agricultural resource at will and to haul it by rail out of the county. Hundreds if not thousands of years of food production will thus be traded away for one-shot mining operations.

The world is adding more than 70 million people a year while quality of farmland is steadily shrinking. What kind of plan favors more sprawl over true farmland protection and long term sustainability?

Richard L. Brook

Harvard