Grayslake honors resident for 50 years on planning, zoning panels

Grayslake was a sleepy outpost of 3,800 residents when Fred Schaefer decided he wanted to help his new hometown in some way.

Schaefer said he was told he might want to join the Grayslake plan commission and zoning board of appeals. The panels review development plans and zoning requests, then issue recommendations to the village board for a final vote.

It seems the plan commission and zoning board work agreed with Schaefer, 92. He was honored by the village board Tuesday night for 50 years of service.

Mayor Rhett Taylor presented Schaefer with a clock commemorating his long tenure with the village.

“We do thank you for your service for 50 years of dedication to this community,” Taylor said.

No precise records are available, but village hall staffers believe Schaefer is the longest-serving appointed official in Grayslake’s 117-year history.

“It didn’t seem that long,” Schaefer said of his tenure. “You look back, you wonder how you get there.”

Schaefer worked for Sellstrom Manufacturing Co. in Palatine when he was appointed to the panels in January 1962. He said he and his family were new to Grayslake when a friend presented the plan commission and zoning board idea to him.

“We moved out from Chicago,” Schaefer said before Tuesday’s meeting. “We really wanted to do something for the village.”

Schaefer said he wound up in Grayslake because he wanted to live closer to his job at Great Lakes Naval Station. Schaefer found a home for $12,500 in Grayslake, so he moved there from Chicago’s South Side with his wife and two daughters.

Village records show Schaefer has served with 78 plan commission members since he started in 1962. He’s been in on the approval of 59 subdivisions, 204 property rezonings, three comprehensive plans and the adoption of flood-control standards.

At Tuesday’s village board meeting, Schaefer remembered some heated meetings and a few “weird” former colleagues who were not named. “One of the members would show up drunk,” he said.

Schaefer said he’s been retired for a while, but the plan commission and zoning board of appeals keep him busy.

Karl Molek, who serves with Schaefer on the two advisory boards, said his colleague is concerned about the environment and always places the big picture of the village first. He added Schaefer isn’t afraid to go against the majority on an issue.

“One thing about Fred is this: He only speaks when he has something to say,” Molek said.