The DeKalb County Public Infrastructure and Development Sub-committee met on Thursday, March 18, 2004 at 7:30P.M. at the Legislative Center’s Freedom Room.  Chairman Frank Van Buer called the meeting to order.  Those present were John McBride, Nicholas Noe,  and Haakon Andreasen.  Those absent were Larry Lundgren, Thomas Zucker, Bill Cross and Sandy Quiram.  A quorum was present. 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Mr. McBride, seconded by Mr. Andreasen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes of the January 2004 minutes. 

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Moved by Mr. Andreasen, seconded by Mr. Noe, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.

DRAFT OUTLINE DISCUSSION      

Chairman Van Buer reviewed the discussion from the previous month regarding the compilation of a written report to be submitted to the full County Board.  He explained that there were a few members of the committee that had been assigned to research various topics to be included in the outline for the report.  He has not had everything turned into him yet from everyone therefore the discussion tonight will focus on his section of the outline.  He has submitted some questions that have come out of the discussions and presentations made by various resource people who came to visit with the committee over the last several months (see draft form attached to these minutes).  The committee discussed placing these questions in the report and then including references as to where the county board members could find answers to these questions. 

Mr. Andreasen said that he felt that the County could influence economic development.  An example would be water issues.  The county could influence the economic development through transportation, placing strategic access points on county roads.  He felt that by controlling some of these issues the county would be having some control over the development.  He feels that the expansion that we will see in the near future will show that water is crucial to development.  Chairman Van Buer pointed out that the aquifer that we get our water supply from enters in Wisconsin and then travels down to DeKalb County, therefore, we may want to look at ways to protect our watershed.

Mr. Noe said that he felt that the county does have some control over economic development through the Regional Plan Commission and the Unified Comprehensive Plan that has recently been adopted by the County.  We will be able to help guide the smaller towns and cities with development through this plan.  He further explained that while he was researching his section of the outline he found that a 30-year forecast showed towns along Route 47, between the years 2000 – 2030 with a population growth from 17,000 to 180,000.  That amounts to a lot of population pressure there in Kane County.  He could see those people jumping over to DeKalb County, which would pose the question, “do we want to become a bedroom community?”  Is there anything that we can do to prevent this from happening or what?  Mr. Noe also said that we might just have to accept the fact that it’s going to happen. 

The committee discussed the fact as to whether or not the County could help the various towns and cities in the County in the areas that they really need help with.  Some of the other questions that the committee asked are as follows:  Where the County is going to get the money to do this?  Is there a way to control the County’s growth?  Should we become home ruled? What are the advantages of becoming home ruled? Should we implement a county-wide mass transit system?    

The committee then discussed narrowing down the questions to 5 or 6 major issues.  They would then try to give brief answers and points of resources for the county board to refer to.  They decided that the main issues that they could see were: preservation of farmland and quality of life, mass transit, economic development, home rule and watershed issues. 

The committee agreed that at their next meeting in April they would continue with the work session on the outline.  Chairman Van Buer will touch base with the research sub-committee members to see where they are on their individual subjects. 

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Noe, seconded by Mr. Andreasen, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                                          _________________________________
                                                          Frank D. Van Buer, Chairman

______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary