Several county board members on Oct. 16 urged additional revision to the proposed McHenry County Comprehensive Plan, citing potential unintended consequences for estate zoning, inconsistent language on sidewalks and walkable neighborhoods, and a missing key for the strategic aquifer recharge areas map.

County Board member Brian Gottemoeller said the plan as drafted would change "estate" zoning from one unit per acre to two units per acre in some subsections, which he warned could enable large‑scale density increases without additional deliberation. "If this is approved as it currently sits with 2 units to an acre ... somebody can go down to 2990 where there's at least 4 or 500 acres of Estate 1 zoning ... and ask to have all of that changed to 2 units per acre," Gottemoeller said, urging more careful review.

Gottemoeller and several colleagues also pointed to language about expanding sidewalk networks and promoting walkable neighborhoods as inappropriate or unclear for much of unincorporated McHenry County. Another concern raised was that a map intended to show strategic aquifer recharge areas lacked the cross‑hatched key referenced in the plan document.

Board members debated whether to send the plan back to committee or delay adoption until December to give staff time to revise the draft. Planning staff said some corrections could be completed within 60 days and suggested working offline to finalize typographical and map key errors. "We can get these corrections made ... 60 days is an adequate amount of time," a staff member (John Hauseel’s staff represented in the meeting) said.

Chairman Bueller proposed pulling the plan from the upcoming agenda and returning it to committee for additional work; several members expressed support for that approach. No final vote on the comprehensive plan was taken during the Committee of the Whole meeting.

Quotes used in this article are drawn from the Oct. 16 meeting transcript and are attributed to the speakers who made them.