Lake Zurich, Illinois
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lake Zurich | |
| Village | |
| Official name: Lake Zurich | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Illinois |
| County | Lake |
| Township | Ela |
| Elevation | 850 ft (259 m) |
| Coordinates | |
| Area | 6.8 sq mi (18 km²) |
| - land | 6.8 sq mi (18 km²) |
| Population | 18,104 (2000) |
| Density | 2,792.3 /sq mi (1,078 /km²) |
| Founded | September 19th, 1896 |
| Village president | John Tolomei |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 60047 |
| Area code | 847 and 224 |
   Location of Lake Zurich within Illinois
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| Wikimedia Commons: Lake Zurich, Illinois | |
| Website: http://www.volz.org | |
For the lake in Switzerland, see the article "Lake Zurich".
Lake Zurich is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,104 at the 2000 census. A 2003 special census put the village's population at 19,005.
The village is located by a lake also called Lake Zurich.
In 2006, Lake Zurich was named by Frommer's as one of the top hundred "Best Places to Raise Your Family" and by U.S. News as one of the "Top Twenty-five Affordable Places to Live in the Country".
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[edit] Geography
Lake Zurich is located at (42.192324, -88.088098)[1] with an elevation of 850 feet above sea level.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 6.8 square miles (17.7 km²), of which, 6.5 square miles (16.8 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (0.9 km²) of it (5.26%) is water.
Landscape is mainly Marshland, Forestrey, and Beach(by the lake)
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 18,104 people, 5,746 households, and 4,866 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,792.3 people per square mile (1,078.7/km²). There were 5,828 housing units at an average density of 898.9/sq mi (347.3/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 92.31% White, 0.81% African American, 0.17% Native American, 3.82% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.97% from other races, and 0.92% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.55% of the population.
There were 5,746 households out of which 54.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.3% were married couples living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.3% were non-families. 12.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.12 and the average family size was 3.42.
In the village the population was spread out with 34.1% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 5.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 100.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.4 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $84,125, and the median income for a family was $89,874. Males had a median income of $63,909 versus $43,047 for females. The per capita income for the village was $30,287. About 2.0% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.9% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] History
The area of Lake Zurich was first settled by Europeans in the 1830s. Two early pioneers were George Ela, after whom the Ela township is named, and Seth Paine, who established a number of commercial ventures in the town. New England farmers moved to the area in the 1830s and 1840s, and German immigrants began to move to the area from the middle of the century. The village of Lake Zurich was incorporated on September 19th, 1896. It remained primarily a farming community; although the village was connected to the railroad in 1910, the line was closed ten years later. However, the arrival of the highway system with Rand Road, U.S. Route 12 in 1922 and Half Day Road, Illinois Route 22 in 1927 established Lake Zurich as a convenient summer resort. The now-defunct Palatine, Lake Zurich and Wauconda Railroad also served the community. Housing development began in the 1950s, with the population expanding throughout the latter part of the 20th century.
Eminent domain has reached Lake Zurich. The village government has taken and paid more than market value for private property in an attempt to increase revenue via new businesses. As of 2004 Lake Zurich has acquired all the property intended to fulfill its downtown redevelopment project. While many protests occurred regularly throughout 2005 near the promenade, the protests failed to garner much attention and ended up failing. A recent court defeat brought the issue back into the public eye, as a village owned parcel was denied eminient domain. The renters were granted the ability to stay through their lease. The court deemed that the Village could not use eminent domain to evict the renters because the Village had failed to properly follow State procedures when it established its downtown Redevelopment Project.
In an ongoing effort to revitalize and bring residents to the downtown area, the village has partnered with a successful group of developers and has completed Phase 1 on the new townhouse complex. The award-winning Somerset townhomes are located one block away from the town center and are sitting half sold with mechanics liens on them. Visit here for more information [1]. The village board continues to look for new ways to compensate for the money pit caused by the TIF bonds and legal battles while the developer abandoned the larger project.
A bypass rerouting Illinois Route 22 around the downtown business district has since been completed, with cosmetic and utility work ongoing, after over 1 and a half years of extremely snarled traffic and construction delays that the city worked hard to overcome with the project owner (IDOT). The Village and IDOT also have yet to resolve water pollution problems impacting the Lake of Lake Zurich that brought State and Federal enforcement against both parties during 2006 and 2007.
Sales taxes are already falling short due to the economic down-turn and poor planning the village may soon have issues paying its debt service.
[edit] Village Government
The Village of Lake Zurich is headed by Village President John Tolomei, who was elected in 2007 to a two-year term to complete the unfinished term of Mayor Jim Krischke, who had resigned due to becoming the Village Administrator of nearby Hawthorn Woods. The Village has a six member Board of Trustees, including Steve Callahan, Steve McAvoy, and Craig Taylor (elected in 2005 to four-year terms) and Suzanne Branding, Jim Johnson, and Tom Poynton (elected in 2007 to four-year terms).
[edit] Redevelopment Plans
The Village of Lake Zurich broke ground for the downtown redevelopment on May 4th, 2006. The groundbreaking is for the new Somerset townhomes located north of Main Street. The Somerset will have 39 luxury, three story townhomes with views of the lake. The larger project was abdoned by the developer and the village has been left with vacant lots and unfinished developments.
As of October, 2006, the Rt. 22 bypass will divert heavy traffic away from the downtown area in order to allow easier pedestrian travel.
[edit] Community Unit School District 95
[edit] Elementary schools
- Charles Quentin (06/07 enrollment 414)
- Isaac Fox (06/07 enrollment 499)
- Sarah Adams (06/07 enrollment 446)
- Seth Paine (06/07 enrollment 397)
- Spencer Loomis (06/07 enrollment 447)
- May Whitney (06/07 enrollment 435) (note: May Whitney students have been relocated to 100 Church Street -- the original High School and former Middle School North building -- for the 2007-08 school year and into the foreseeable future.)
[edit] Middle schools
- Lake Zurich Middle School North (grades 6-8, 06/07 enrollment 790, nickname 'Wolves')
- Lake Zurich Middle School South (grades 6-8, 06/07 enrollment 803, nickname 'Eagles')
[edit] High school
- Lake Zurich High School (founded 1929 as Ela-Vernon High School, 06/07 enrollment 2193, nickname 'Bears')
[edit] Private Schools
- St. Francis de Sales (Catholic) (Grades K-8)
- St. Matthew (Lutheran) (Grades K-8)
- Quentin Road Christian School (Baptist) (Grades K-12)
[edit] References
- ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
[edit] External links
- Lake Zurich official website
- Lake Zurich Area Community Information Gateway
- Lake Zurich Area Local History
- Ela Area Public Library
- Barrington Area Library
- Lake Zurich, Illinois is at coordinates Coordinates:
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