The Huntley Farmside

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The MiHitleY Farmside
A Press Publications newspaper ar serving tlie Huntley community
Thursday, April 30,1998
Volume 37 Issue 55
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Village President Dhamer sees big changes take place
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
Anyone who thinks being mayor of a small town is easy, needs to take a second look. Village Manager James Dhamer said.
Huntley's four-term chief administrator said his job was much easier, before builders became so interested in the thousands of rolling acres sur¬ rounding the village.
"I enjoy what is going on, but I would like to be left alone once in a while," Dhamer said in an interview with the Huntley Farmside.
Dhamer's public service career goes back over 20 years to 1974 , when he first began serving a four-year stint on the village Plan Commission. After that he served six years as a vil¬ lage trustee, before being elect¬ ed village president in 1984. His current term expires in 2001, but Dhamer said it's still too early to decide on running again.
Before retiring as a construc¬ tion supervisor, Dhamer said he could accomplish his mayoral duties on weekends. Now, the job requires hours of daily efforts to keep track of the sky¬ rocketing construction going on around town.
"I left here for a three hour meeting," said Dhamer, who earns about $6,200 as a part- time administrator. "When I got back there were eight tickets on my desk to call people back. I should be home mowing my grass."
Even as one reporter was speaking to Dhamer in his office, a Chicago reporter was waiting on the telephone for him.
"Tell   him   no,"   Dhamer
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Photo by Steve Brosinski Huntley Village President James Dhamer sits behind his desk at the Village HalL Dhamer said the major developments in town are keeping him very busy.
barked to his secretary.
And the reason for Dhamer's busy schedule is no secret. Just drive around town and see all the developments.
Although Del Webb has been getting most of the attention, other developers have bought vacant farm land to build hun¬ dreds of homes. Cambridge Homes, Inland Real Estate and Town and Country are some of the developers that have big plans in Huntley.
Dhamer said the _ village's population may quadruple in the next decade.
"I would say we hit 10,11, or 12,000 people in the next 10 years. All we are trying to do is control growth," he said.
And controlling growth is a keyword in Dhamer's vocabu¬ lary these days as builders con¬ tinue to gobble up land.
One advantage of this devel¬ opment spurt, Dhamer said, is that developers Will be putting up the cash through impact fees for the future demand on munic¬ ipal services. Del Webb will be paying about $1,4(H), or roughly half the impact fee charged for most builders. Some fees can range   as   high   as   $3,200,
Dhamer said.
Impact fees cover the costs incurred by the village, the Park District and the School District. The village uses the funds, for example, to employ more police personnel and build roads, while the School District may use the money to build new schools.
The reduction in Del Webb's impact fee is primarily because homeowners moving into the subdivision will not have school age children.
"People who will be moving in will be 55 and older, and you can't have a 19-year-old wife," Dhamer said good naturedly.
As far as change is con¬ cerned, Dhamer said it's inevitable.
"It will change the attitude of a lot of people. It will not stay quite the way it was. But as long as we keep the old town here, it will still be a nice relationship to the community. I can't help it if the farmers sold their property."
"The only thing I can do is control it. I am not building any roads, streets, curbs or side¬ walks. And I'm not building any treatment plants," Dhamer said.
Route 47 road work is on slow track to
being completed
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
State authorities are plan¬ ning to make some improve¬ ments to relieve traffic con¬ gestion on Route 47, but not anytime soon.
Business people said that any road work would be a big step towards alleviating the. backups on the busy thorough¬ fare.
"They lengthened timing of the light on Route 47, but now traffic is building up on Main Street," said Elden Pfaff, owner of Pfaff Auto Sales, 11106 S. Route 47.
In the 23 years he's been in business, Pfaff said the traffic has steadily increased in both north and south directions of the Main Street intersection.
"I hear so many different stories," he said. "It's as bad as I've ever seen it and it's getting worse."
Across the street. Colleen Craig, bookeeper for Marlowe Feed and Hatchery, 11011 S. Route 47, said customers are having a difficult time enter¬ ing the store.
"I know it's getting worse," she said. "We get complaints from people who say they can't get into the store."
But help in improving traf¬ fic on Route 47 is on the way, state authorities said.
The Illinois Department of Transportation has received
funds for a resurfacing/widen¬ ing project along a 2.1 mile stretch of Route 47, said IDOT Area Programmer Ed Wilson.
The state has allocated $4 million to widen and resurface Route 47 from Reed to Kreutzer roads. The project is slated to towards the end of IDOT's five-year program, which runs from 1999 to 2003. Wilson said a left-turn lane will be added to north¬ bound Route 47.
Wilson said a study is underway to improve conges¬ tion at Main and Route 47. So far, the state has not approved the estimated $300,000 cost of doing the intersection recon¬ struction. IDOT has set late 1999 as a target date to receive funding for this project.
There are no plans to change Route 47 to a four-lane road anytime soon, Wilson said.
"Route 47 has an average 15,700 vehicles per day. It can be handled in a standard two- way roadway," he said.
Del Webb was told to widen a half-mile stretch of Route 47 from Freeman Road to Oakcreek Parkway, said Tom Nuzzo, IDOT permit field engineer.
"The state requires all developers in northeast Illinois to accomodate traf¬ fic," he said.