As previously reported by The Observer, Village officials who are directly charged with oversight of the roads and bridges in our Village – Trustee Patty Meroni, Administrator Bob Kosin and Village Engineer Dan Strahan – are hosting a public hearing next Wednesday, July 16, at Village Hall beginning at 6:00 PM to discuss proposed plans for Haegers Bend Rd improvements and proposed bicycle plans.
In advance of the meeting, Village Hall staff have now posted a link to background documentation on the subject to the Village website homepage. That link can be accessed here.
There are twelve documents provided for interested residents to review, most of which date back to 2012, under the previous administration, and many of which were prepared by Gewalt Hamilton or subcontractors at the time. While Haegers Bend is the primary subject of the studies, some other Village roads in McHenry County are cited with regard to possible bicycle plans, mainly consisting of signage.
Among the twelve downloadable documents that presumably will be presented to attendees of the hearing, there is also a Haegers Bend Roads questionnaire, and that can be downloaded here for completion and submittal.
Given the time intensive and likely costly detail contained in these study reports, we must question how many tens of thousands of residents’ tax dollars were spent at under the prior adminstration for a proposal that only recently surfaced that most residents who will be directly affected clearly do not want?
More importantly, why didn’t Village officials extend the courtesy of asking Haegers Bend or other residents their opinions back in 2012 before even considering this? These are the questions that should be asked next Wednesday evening.
– The Observer
Seems to me that the residents are always the last to know! The cost of these bike and engineering studies alone could have been used to pave or patch part of Haeger’s Bend Rd! The fact that residents are not informed, shows a total lack of consideration of how our tax dollars are being spent. The mere idea of bike lanes will cost us dearly, but for the future as well. It will be an endless financial burden. SAY NO. We shouldn’t have to go to the county to cut deals.