Post World War II Americans found themselves with a rising standard of living, allowing many families to achieve the American Dream by being able to afford an automobile and a home away from the congested city in the countryside (Duncan and Nelson 2). This reversed the established trend of moving from non-metro areas of the country to more populated cities. As people leave these cities, they bring both residential and commercial development to the countryside ("The Costs of Sprawl" 1). This trend and its effects are referred to as urban sprawl, defined as "unplanned, uncontrolled, and uncoordinated single-use development that does not provide for an attractive and functional mix of uses and/or is not functionally related to surrounding land uses and which variously appears as low density" (Duncan and Nelson 1). Some negative effects of urban sprawl include the loss of valuable agricultural land, traffic congestion, the decay of the downtown area, increased air and water pollution, and an inefficient development pattern to serve with public facilities (Duncan and Nelson 3; "2000 Sprawl Report Index" 1). As Timothy Beatley and Kristy Manning noted in, The Ecology of Place:

"Low-density, sprawling growth patterns have characterized development in the United States since the post WWII period, and it has become increasingly clear that many of the problems of American cities and regions stem from these spatial development patterns. Current patterns of growth in the United States are land-consumptive, environmentally damaging, and fail to create places that are livable and of enduring value." (40)

Growth management techniques are often implemented by planning agencies and departments to help manage and curb the negative effects of sprawl. Growth management is defined as "the implementation of government regulations that control the type, location, quality, scale, rate, sequence or timing of development . . . closely tied to comprehensive land use plans and specific development policies" (Duncan and Nelson xi). This broader set of planning concerns was developed in the 1970’s amidst new environmental awareness. During this time, communities examined the causes and impacts of growth more closely, ultimately adopting more comprehensive approaches and strategies for managing growth (Beatley and Manning 18). The use of such strategies can be considered taking a "proactive stance in assuring that the very qualities that attract growth are not destroyed for existing residents and future generations" (Duncan and Nelson xi). A few growth management recommendations for minimizing the negative effects of sprawl over the long-term include the following: delineating with certainty future development sites, making efficient use of already developed land, streamlining the permit process where development is to be allowed, and ensuring that development pays its full marginal costs, and enacting more coordinated, less competitive land-use policies (Beatley and Manning 12). Two decades ago, William K. Reilly wrote about citizen’s feelings towards the rapid growth occurring in America’s communities-feelings that remain true today:

There is a mood in America. Increasingly citizens are asking what urban growth will add to the quality of their lives. They are questioning the way relatively unconstrained, piecemeal urbanization is changing their communities and are rebelling against the traditional processes of government and the marketplace which, they believe, have inadequately guided development in the past. They are measuring new development proposals by the extent to which environmental criteria are satisfied-by what new housing and business will generate in terms of additional traffic, pollution of air and water, erosion and scenic disturbance. (Duncan and Nelson xi)

Chicago’s rapid westward sprawl is concerning many residents with the negative effects of such growth. The purpose of this paper is to study what communities are doing to handle growth. The paper compares the growth management strategies of the cities of Elgin, St. Charles, and Batavia. While similar studies have been carried out in other Chicago area suburbs, one has never been done comparing how three cities are dealing with rapid growth. There also have not been any studies done comparing these Fox Valley cities. The study also differs from other studies done in the Chicago Metropolitan area because, unlike many suburbs, these three cities developed independently from Chicago, with growth creeping towards them and eventually consuming them (Santell).

All three cities are situated in a North-South orientation along the Fox River in eastern Kane County, located in northeastern Illinois approximately forty miles west of Chicago, with open space and farmland located to the west and suburbs located to the east. Kane, along with Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties comprise the Chicago Metropolitan area, served by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC). Kane County, with 16 townships and 27 municipalities, is fifth in population out of the 102 counties in Illinois ("2020" 96). All three cities have been experiencing increasing growth both in population and in area, and, unlike their eastern neighbors who have already grown to their full extent, have the ability to grow further west. Elgin, incorporated in 1854, is the largest of the study cities with a population in 1996 of 85, 068, and currently nearing the 100,000 mark ("Elgin-At-A-Glance" 1). Elgin is located on the north end of the Fox Valley region along Interstate 90/Northwest Tollway, about 38 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. This location has contributed greatly to the residential and commercial/industrial growth in recent years ("Elgin At-A-Glance 1).

St. Charles was first incorporated as a town in 1853, and then as a city in 1874. St. Charles is located south of Elgin in the center of Kane County, 35 miles west of Chicago and, in 1994, had a population of 25, 282 ("Community Profile" 1). Batavia is the southernmost city in the study and, with a population of about 24,000, the smallest city. Batavia was incorporated in 1833, making it the oldest of the three cities ("Comprehensive Plan-Batavia" 7). It is located at the intersection of the Fox River valley and the western edge of the East-West Tollway (Interstate 88) ("Comprehensive Plan-Batavia" 7).

City planners from each city, historic preservation coordinators from Elgin and St. Charles, and planners from Kane County provided valuable information and perspective on the growth issues facing these three cities. In addition, interviews with several residents and key businesspeople of the area added additional information. I also sent out questionnaires to residents from all three cities to get the opinion of what different residents like or do not like about the growth. I also utilized the Internet to obtain useful information. The local governmental websites of each study area as well as of Kane County provided me with solid information on all three cities, as well as links to other useful information elsewhere on the web. The Sierra Club website was especially helpful in providing information on sprawl. I also visited the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) website to get an idea of what the regional growth commission’s views were on how the region should be growing. The online editions of several area newspapers, including The Kane County Chronicle, The Daily Herald, and The Courier News, were excellent sources of articles concerning current growth related events for each of the towns. I also obtained several government documents from each city, most importantly the comprehensive plans, but also census data, current/planned development information, and information on historic districts. Comprehensive Plans are guides prepared by the municipality to guide the long-term development of the community (Levy 100). According to the Greater Portland Council of Governments, comprehensive plans are the "official statement of public policies for guiding the physical growth and development of the community. They generally address the following areas: location of open space, natural resources, population, housing, transportation, and community needs (2). In growing communities such as these, the comprehensive plans will most likely have a focus on future growth patterns that are desirable for the community, and possibly ideas for controlling the growth. I also obtained a copy of the 2020 Land Resource Management Plan for Kane County, a good source for comparing what the three cities are doing compared to what the county has in mind for the future of the area. Land use maps for all three cities were also helpful to obtain both a visual and spatial aspect of the main growth areas of each city.

One limitation to the study was that the 2000 census data was not available until after the study was completed, forcing me to rely on the most recent special census data. Another limitation was that the City of Elgin’s Comprehensive Plan was first drawn up in 1983, and the city was in the process of updating it during the course of the research. While I was able to view the steps involved with creating such a document, the final product was not available to use in comparison with the comprehensive plans from the other two cities. The questionnaires that were mailed at the onset on the research had a low return rate, which made me unable to infer what the residents of each town felt about the growth, and I therefore was only able to quote what individual residents felt.