The Huntley Farmside

              Inside • ViUage Board agenda Planning Commission minutes
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The HimtieY Farmside
Thursday, June 10,1999
A Press Publications newspaper im serving the Huntley community
Volume 39, Issue 9
Soccer team wins championship
The Huntley Orange Crushers soccer team, sponsored by the Huntley Park.District, are the tri-county soccer champions for this spring. Pictured above are team members Joel Borhart (front row,- from left). Jack Allison, Jimmy Werner, Max Geigle, Matthew Han¬ son, Anthony Andreit; Andrew Moore (back row, from left), Alicia Petty, Stephen Mikulay, Samantha Memmini, Monika Dianovsky, Matthew Casanas, Mark McGee and Coach Dan Memmini.
Consultant predicts future road 'whoas' for Huntley
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
A traffic consultant is predict¬ ing bottlenecks throughout town, unless the village comes up with a clear strategy for road construction.
By 2020, experts are saying Huntley's population will climb ten fold from the current 4,000.
Planners do not have a pre¬ cise estimate of the cost of the roadwork, though conservative estimates are in the multimil- lions of dollars.
Village Trustee Charlie Beck¬ er said the board isn't sure what should be done.
"We are going to have to go west somehow," Becker said. "I really think crossing Route 47 where Algonquin Road is now and shooting across the wet¬ lands and across the railroad tracks is not a good idea. We
"There is no answer to Main Street other than it's going to be a quagmire. I suppose we could buy all the houses out
and expand to six lanes, but that wouldn't be very fair either."
Charlie Becker
Village trustee
don't even know if the ICC will give us approval."
A proposed crossing near the Oak Crest subdivision could cost upwards of $1 million.
"There is no answer to Main Street other than it's going to be a quagmire. I suppose we could buy all the houses out and expand to six lanes, but that wouldn't he very fair either," Becker said.
"That   should   have   been
thought out years ago," he said. "But nolxxly knew all the growth that was taking place. If some¬ body had a crystal ball then, we wouldn't have these problems."
Becker said the best bet might be to go north on Route 47, west on Union Road and expand Union to four lanes.
Nearby, Metra is planning to build a train station at Coyne Station and Union Road.
New school principal will be named soon
Steve Brosinski
Press Publications
School District 158 officials plan to announce the name of the a new elementary school principal at the June 17 board meeting.
Superintendent Jerry Hartley said the candidate, who now serves as an assistant principle at a northem Illinois school, has agreed to a tentative contract with the district.
Hartley said the candidate has a background in preschool, early childhood and special educa¬ tion. The district needs two new administrators to head the two schools under construction at the Hannony Road campus in
Huntley and a site on Reed Road in Lake in the Hills.
Huntley North Principal Janean Hansel will become the new principle of the second new school and Huntley South Prin¬ cipal Ronda Maciejewski will be assigned to the Huntley cam¬ pus.
School officials expect the two schools to be open for the 2000-2001 school year. Chil¬ dren in kindergarten to third grade will attend schools at the new campuses.
"The lower elementary prin¬ cipals will work with the new teachers that will he assigned to .their schools," Hartley said about what the principals will be
doing until the new schools open.
Hartley said grade levels were realigned to fit better with the available space of the new schools. For the 2000-2001 school year, kindergarten chil¬ dren through third-graders will attend the North campus and fourth- and fifth-graders will attend Huntley South.
For many children that will mean going to new schools, including: kindergarten to sec¬ ond-graders will attend Huntley North; third- and fourth-graders, including some second-graders, will go to Huntley South; and fifth-graders will attend school at the new wing at the Huntley
campus.
In the meantime. Hartley said construction on the two new schools is on schedule. In April, voters approved $18 million ref¬ erendums to build the new facil¬ ities. Hartley said the cost is pro¬ jected at $10 million each, though the state has promised $5.7 million in grants.
Designed for 800 students each, the schools are expected to hold about 700 students because of a smaller class size. Hartley said at least 600 students are expected to fill the classrooms at the start of the 2000-2001 school year.
School officials are predict¬ ing another round of referen-
-(
dums in the fall of 2000. Hartley said skyrocketing enrollment leaves the district with no choice but to seek more space.
"This is contingent on the rate of growth, whicfi we expect to continue to grow," he said.
Enrollment stands at about 2,100, which is projected to climb to 2,500 in the fall and reach 3,000 students the follow¬ ing year, officials said. The strategy is to build schools on three campuses at the 130-acre Huntley campus, the 240-acre Reed Road site and possibly on a third 140-acre site southeast of Huntley. The district is negotiat¬ ing the purchase of land for the third site.
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