As Lake County officials mull a proposed new zoning ordinance that will shape development in the far north suburbs into the next millennium, questions are being raised about the influence of the powerful home-building industry over the process.
The home-building industry has poured thousands of dollars into the campaign coffers of pro-development politicians for years, hoping for the approval of policies that help their businesses.
And some of those same politicians are now the key players in writing the new Unified Development Ordinance that will regulate construction throughout fast-growing Lake County, which also has some of the most pristine nature preserves, lakes and wetlands in Illinois.
In fact, one of the construction industry’s frequent recipients of campaign donations is board member Pamela Newton (R-Vernon Hills), who as chairwoman of the County Board’s Planning, Zoning and Building Committee will have considerable influence over the new document.
During the first six weeks of this year alone, Newton received $3,500 in contributions from home-building interests, including Greggs Landing, Cambridge Homes and Manhard Consulting Ltd.
Although $3,500 might not seem like a large sum when compared with campaign donations given to state lawmakers and others, it can buy a lot in Lake County, where roadside signs, placards and mailers are the favored ways to campaign.
Newton said the campaign contributions have not influenced her and do not pose a conflict of interest as she oversees development of the new zoning ordinance.
“That’s ridiculous,” Newton said in a recent interview when asked about the campaign donations and whether they would influence her work.
“It doesn’t matter who contributes, whether it’s someone in the building industry or the environmental industry,” she said. “These rules are going to be uniform, and they’re not going to be driven by either industry. This is not a political thing. This is definitely a publicly driven document.”
Several pro-environment members of the County Board, however, are questioning Newton’s remarks.
Many board members are complaining they have been frozen out of the process of developing the ordinance, leaving them largely in the dark on some key issues.
And they say they don’t like it, especially since recent elections have increased the number of slow-the-growth members on the County Board at the expense of pro-growth candidates.
“I feel like we’ve been frozen out of the process by design,” said board member Martha Marks (R-Riverwoods), one of several Republican board members who frequently clash with the board’s pro-growth members.
“If you have County Board members who are willing to work hard at the ordinance, I think they should be at the table,” said board member Carol Calabresa (R-Libertyville). “That hasn’t been the case.”
But Newton said that Marks, Calabresa and other disgruntled board members have had plenty of opportunity to contribute to the process. She plans to hold at least two more sessions with board members meeting as the committee of the whole before the ordinance is formally adopted.
While some County Board members have felt frozen out of the process, representatives of the home-building industry have made sure their voice is heard.
Peter Manhard, chairman of the Government Affairs Committee of the Home Builders Association of Lake County, said representatives of his organization have met with county officials to voice concerns about the draft. Many of those concerns involve environmental protections, he said.
For instance, the proposed UDO contains a new section on conservation development that promotes environmentally sensitive communities and requires extra public hearings for designated “conditional-use” development.
“Anytime you touch a wetland, you have to go through the conditional-use process,” said Manhard, vice president of Manhard Consulting Ltd., a Vernon Hills surveying company that has long contributed campaign funds to Newton and other pro-development politicians.
“It is duplication of effort,” he said. “The Army Corps of Engineers does that. There is no reason to go through an additional public hearing every time you touch a wetland.”
Home builders also are concerned about designating protective buffer zones around wetlands, steep slopes, lakes and forests.
“A buffer is a buffer, not a natural resource to be preserved,” said Manhard. “The buffer helps to preserve a natural resource.”
Such issues rank high among the priorities of Lake County home builders, who have a lot riding on the UDO, said Ted Pickus, president of the Home Builders Association of Lake County.
“We don’t want it to be so regulated there is no opportunity to work around specific pieces of land where there might be a pond or a bunch of trees,” said Pickus.
Supporters of Newton and other pro-development board members also have made their agenda clear.
“We don’t need people who have a single-minded agenda, like saving trees,” said Libertyville businessman Jack Martin, who heads Taxpayers for Good Government, a political action committee that had $14,845 in campaign contributions on hand last February.
Critics such as Marks and Calabresa say the influence of the home builders could lead to a new zoning ordinance that makes it easier for home builders to develop the remaining land in Lake County.
And they claim that recent statements by home builders favoring environmentally sensitive construction plans could be nothing more than “green spin” as they face an increasingly nature-friendly County Board.
About the only thing that’s not in dispute as the new ordinance takes shape is the need to prepare for the projected influx of 250,000 people into Lake County in the next 20 years. Residents will need highways, schools, sewers and police departments.
