Looking ahead: Kane County poised to expand economic development in 2023

GENEVA – Kane County will see a lot of economic-related initiatives come to fruition or continue to advance in 2023, Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog said.

These include regional economic planning grants to pay for the Longmeadow Parkway so it does not need to be a tollway, the development of workforce housing, supporting small businesses and supporting more electric vehicle charging stations.

“I’d like to believe we are going to complete our study and begin implementation of an Economic Development Council. It will be the first time Kane County has had an Economic Development Council,” Pierog said.

Its members will be professionals from a variety of fields, such as factory owners, business owners, civic leaders and members of the tourism industry, she said.

Funding will be a model private-public partnership that still needs to be figured out.

“We will start small and define industries. What are critically in need? What are well-supported in Kane County? And continue to expand to other industries within our region,” Pierog said. “We will start small and build.”

Its purpose would be to assist businesses looking to locate in the county to choose the best area.

A business owner might be looking at a site in one community and then decide it’s not quite right. The council would assist in referring to another location in Kane County, rather than have the business leave, she said.

“We no longer stand alone,” she said. “We stand together.”

A similar partnership is being developed between Cook and the collar counties – Kane, Lake, McHenry, DuPage and Will – with an eye toward regional development instead of businesses going to Wisconsin or Indiana.

“It’s incredibly exciting,” Pierog said. “We usually compete. When we work together, we all win. That is just it.”

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning has been working on the regional plan for the past eight months, Pierog said.

“CMAP has been working with leaders, county and local economic development organizations and related partners to boost economic growth through regional coordination,” according to a Nov. 30 update on its website, www.cmap.illinois.gov.

“We’re stronger if we work together,” Pierog said.

‘God bless you. Thank you.’

As the Longmeadow Parkway in Carpentersville is almost completed, the next step is to get the debt paid off, Pierog said.

“Because of its regional nature, we were able to lobby the governor and … the allocation of $17.5 million should be coming through shortly to pay down the bond,” Pierog said. “We are advocating for another $17.5 million. We are actively working with our legislative partners and other counties to work on bringing down the rest of that bond so we won’t have to have a toll bridge.”

She said she was not sure what the funding source was from the state.

“I just said, ‘God bless you. Thank you,’” Pierog said. “We are halfway done working on the other part of the $17.5 million and we’ll spend all next year working on it. It’s part of our support of economic development for Kane County, as well as that is a high-growth area.”

Workforce housing

The county supports workforce development, assisting residents to improve work skills through internships and subsidies to train a workforce for today’s needs, Pierog said.

But once a person is trained and is in their first job paying $40,000 a year, there is no place they can afford to live in Kane County, she said.

“Thought leaders, economic leaders and civic leaders say there is a critical need for workforce housing,” Pierog said. “It is not speculative. The next step is meeting with large developers in the county.”

She said the Illinois Real Estate Association supports workforce housing.

“It can be condos, it can be apartments, as well as homes,” Pierog said. “It has to be the next step. Businesses are going to be looking for available workers and housing here is too expensive and not available. How do we adequately supply this for the future so we have a broad range of housing products for our population?”

Pierog acknowledged it would take some explaining for public support.

“I spent a little bit talking to a woman about it and she said, ‘For my son to live so he does not live at home. That would be so nice.’ That is all part of this,” Pierog said.

Small business support

Pierog said county government can support small business development by purchasing products from local small businesses – those that are minority-, women- and veteran-owned.

“Because of the diversity of our population here in Kane County – which I consider an incredible asset and wealth for us – and from the county perspective, I want it to continue,” Pierog said.

The county’s human resources director is doing outreach to develop a diverse workforce, she said.

“We already looked at pay equity and we’re moving that forward like nobody’s business,” Pierog said. “It is to make sure that everyone whose jobs are in similar positions are being addressed, and that is working out very well.”

Pay equity is the concept of compensating employees with similar job functions to have comparably equal pay, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or other status.

Electric vehicle charging

Part of economic development is being able to offer electric vehicle charging stations, Pierog said.

The growth and expansion of electric vehicles will require some studies to see where these charging stations should go, especially on the Randall Road corridor, she said.

One problem is charging stations that exist for specific brands of cars are not universal, she said.

For example, a Chevy Volt cannot use a Tesla charging station.

“Tesla is not a universal plug-in. It’s proprietary,” Pierog said. “We need universal charging stations. We are having lengthy conversations of how to work this out.”