The Lake County Planning and Development Department is set to begin using a new computer system on Dec. 1.
The $225,000 system will track the status of building permits, complaints and violations as the county heads into a new era under the proposed Unified Development Ordinance, which is expected to be adopted soon by the Lake County Board to streamline building and zoning management.
Philip Rovang, planning and development director, on Monday announced the system’s readiness at a meeting of the Lake County Board’s Planning, Building and Zoning Committee.
“Staff will be able to provide us with all types of reports showing the number, types and locations of development and construction projects throughout unincorporated Lake County,” said committee chairman Larry Leafblad in a prepared statement.
Rovang also announced that Dennis Sandquist, Lake County planner, was named deputy director of planning and support services after a nationwide search. Sandquist was project manager for the new computer system.
Sandquist said documents now recorded by hand will be computerized. These include development reviews, conditional-use permits and variances.
The planning department has been working 18 months to get the computer system in place. The current system is not Y2K compliant.
After discussion, the committee gave Rockford-based Hallmark Homes until next year to make road, curb and gutter improvements in its 55-home Deerpath Estates subdivision near Lindenhurst.
Because of rapid turnover in supervisors, the work is long overdue, said David Mayes, Hallmark Homes president.
“I was called in to straighten things out,” Mayes told the committee. “Hallmark Homes in the last year has done a terrible job, no doubt about that.”
Al Westerman (R-Waukegan), said, “There are serious problems with curbs and gutters. There are serious problems with the road.”
Sandra Cole (R-Grayslake) said Hallmark Homes had been given time extensions to meet county performance standards but failed to act.
“Asphalt plants were open all summer, and there have been no improvements,” she said, but the committee voted to give Hallmark Homes more time.
The committee also supported state legislation regulating cell-phone towers and school-impact fees but decided to withdraw a proposal defining zoning exemptions for agricultural land.
“Let’s do it locally and not in Springfield,” suggested Dick Raftis, manager of the Lake County Farm Bureau. “This is one thing farmers don’t want tinkered with.”
Zoning officials had been considering proposing limits on how much land constitutes a farm.
“Does one cow make it an agricultural use?” asked Sheel Yajnik, county zoning administrator.
