The hits just keep coming for Antioch. The village might as well start planning a regional airport. By air is the only way you’ll be able to get to the town in the near future.
The list of “improvements” along Route 173 – that country road which remains the only east-west access to Antioch – inludes a Wal-Mart SuperCenter and Menard's, and the soon-to-be constructed Lowe’s, Kohl’s and Target.
Now comes word that a forest preserve at routes 173 and 45 is being considered as the equestrian venue should Chicago land the 2016 Olympics.
Only after the influx of development did village officials wake up and conclude a two-lane Route 173 isn’t enough to handle the extra traffic. But that didn’t stop sales-tax hungry trustees from approving the new stores.
Did they have a plan to widen Route 173 before approving Wal-Mart? No. Did they have a plan to widen the road before Menard's? No. Do they have a plan in place before they approve Lowe’s, Kohl’s and Target? You guessed it.
The village’s solution to all this? It’s not their problem. Route 173 widening is being ignored by the state, they whine.
The state’s response: They made their bed, let Antioch sleep in it.
Like the song says, you can check in any time you want, but you can never leave.
Why not make Wal-Mart, Lowe's et al pay for the road?
THE HOUND SEZ: What have we not learned in Lake County? Business does not pay for roads, taxpayers pay for roads!
Traffic on 173 is only part of the mess the current and future developments are causing (although 173 is more than enough. I drive through there every day).
Village officials only seem to giving lip service to those people who live on Little Silver Lake and will have to live with the noise and light pollution of the new Kohl's/Target/Lowe's, as well as possible pollution to the lake itself, plus having to look at the rear of a shopping center, instead of the views people enjoy from their homes on the lake now. I don't care how many berms are constructed, or how many trees are planted, the small neighborhood around the lake will be changed, and not for the better.
Not to mention, there have been rumors heard by the folks that live there of a road being constructed, connecting the neighborhood with the new development.
It's only a matter of time before Little Silver Lake, Loon Lake, and the wetland areas near the corner of 173 and Deep Lake Road are polluted by all of the new development. Then what will village officials have to say for themselves, I wonder? I'm afraid that Loon Lake's and Little Silver Lake's status as two of the cleanest lakes in the state is in jeopardy.
Take a drive down Deep Lake Rd. sometime. If you look on the east side of it, across from the Wal-Mart, there is garbage, mostly Wal-Mart bags, scattered everywhere. Unfortunately, I think that garbage on the side of the road is just the beginning of the mess that is befalling Antioch.
THE HOUND SAYS: Just the beginning? Where have you been living?
The problem is that Little Silver Lake isn't in the village, is it? Neither is Loon Lake. Where's your County Board representative or township supervisor stand on the development issue? Isn't your County Board rep a Realtor?
Hmmm.
One other thought: At one time, Antioch residents had to drive to Waukegan, Vernon Hills or Gurnee to shop. Now, they don't have to drive so far, saving their carbon imprints for gasoline for boats and personal watercraft!