Love them or hate them, recreational vehicle camps in Lake County are in the sights of officials considering new regulations for the controversial parks.
A meeting on the new rules is scheduled for June 13 in the Antioch or Lake Villa area, where the 29 RV camps in Lake County are located, Philip Rovang, Lake County director of planning and development, said Monday.
“Why not go out to them and seek comments on their own turf?” asked Rovang at a meeting of the Lake County Board Planning, Building and Zoning Committee.
The RV camps have become controversial recently because of complaints that the facilities have grown with little regulation, creating health and safety concerns at some parks where close-packed campers block access for emergency vehicles.
Rovang said the meeting will be informal, giving residents and camp owners a chance to view existing and proposed regulations. They also will be given a chance to comment to county planning officials or to leave their comments on tape recorders or with stenographers.
“This will allow people to say what they want without confrontation,” Rovang said.
Larry Leafblad (R-Grayslake), planning committee chairman, angered some when he described some of the worst RV camps as “Dogpatch,” after the ramshackle neighborhood in the Li’l Abner comic strip.
“We’ve got all parties paying attention now, the pros and the cons,” Leafblad said. “The public information [meeting] is designed to let residents and [RV park] owners know we are trying to come to solutions and it will never be solved to everyone’s satisfaction. There is too much junk from the past.”
Some camp owners point out that their parks were developed before existing regulations, but Leafblad said county officials want to improve conditions at existing parks and hold new ones to tough standards.
On another controversial issue, committee members Monday attacked recent recommendations of the Lake County Transportation Improvement Project.
After two years of study, the project announced two “finalists” in its search for ways to improve traffic flow: a 27-mile extension of Illinois Highway 53 into Lake County and 60 miles of improvements on Illinois Highway 83 and U.S. Highways 45 and 12.
Martha Marks (R-Riverwoods) called the proposals “a total red herring and bogus,” intended to tilt the project in favor of the Illinois 53 extension, which is “what they wanted all along.”
Sandra Cole (R-Grayslake) said the proposals fail to spell out the impact on population growth and business development in Lake County.
“I lose business and gain population,” she said, and Lake County traffic would be “55 percent worse than it is now” with the Illinois 53 proposal. Future roadways in the county, she added, should span “a greenbelt through the county,” offering public parks and fields.
James LaBelle, Lake County Board chairman, told committee members an agreement on easing traffic congestion is needed.
“The board needs to take an affirmative position on something, given that transportation is one of our top priorities,” LaBelle said.
In another matter, Rovang said the Zoning Board of Appeals will hear proposals on July 10 to build affordable housing in high-density developments near train and bus lines. Fifty potential sites were mapped by an affordable housing task force recently. Rovang said five sites will be studied to determine current zoning and impact on environmental resources in such developments.
If the proposal proves feasible, said Rovang, it could be brought to the Lake County Board in August.
