The Impact of Rapid Population Growth on Suburbs in the Rural- Urban Fringe
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1995 The Impact of Rapid Population Growth on Suburbs in the Rural- Urban Fringe Carol Sonnenschein Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Sonnenschein, Carol, "The Impact of Rapid Population Growth on Suburbs in the Rural-Urban Fringe" (1995). Dissertations. 3532. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3532 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1995 Carol Sonnenschein LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO THE IMPACT OF RAPID POPULATION GROWTH ON SUBURBS IN THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY BY CAROL SUSAN SONNENSCHEIN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 1995 Copyright by Carol Susan Sonnenschein, 1995 All rights reserved. 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people contributed to this project by giving me the benefit of their experience and wisdom concerning the process of suburban growth. Village resi dents, public officials, realtors and planners all made an invaluable contribution to my attempt to understand the dynamics of growth controversies and the causes and consequences of changing attitudes toward development. I am grateful to the Ohio State University Press for permission to reproduce the maps of the Chicago region included in this study and to the Lakeland Press and Copley Publications for allowing me to reprint material from local newspapers. Philip Nyden and John Pelissero took the time to read this manuscript and offer helpful suggestions. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Kenneth Johnson for his encouragement and guidance over the past several years, and his generosity in sharing his knowledge and insight with me. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the love and support of my husband, Stuart, whose enthusiasm and interest in this project have been deeply appreciated. iii To Stuart TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . m LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. v LIST OF TABLES ....................................... vu Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE. 21 3. THE CASE STUDY COMMUNITIES ........................ 65 4. GROWTH POLITICS . 99 5. GROWTH AND THE PROBLEM OF COMMUNITY . 150 6. RAPID GROWTH AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY . 195 7. GROWTH AND CHANGING RELATIONSHIPS AMONG COMMUNITIES. 223 8. PAYING FOR GROWTH ................................. 240 9. CONCLUSION ....................................... 268 Appendix LETTERS OF PERMISSION TO PRINT COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL .... 290 REFERENCE LIST . 293 VITA ................................................. 304 lV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Map of Lake County, Illinois . 2 2. Major Settlements in Cook County, 1840 ...................... 23 3. Outlying Settlements in Cook County, 1841-60 . 24 4. New Settlements in Cook County, 1861-80 .................... 25 5. Population of Villages in Study, 1970-1990 .................... 82 6. Village Boundaries, 1970 and 1993 ......................... 83 7. Grayslake Net Migration, 1970-1990 ........................ 86 8. Libertyville Net Migration, 1970-1990 ....................... 87 9. Mundelein Net Migration, 1970-1990........................ 88 10. Vernon Hills Net Migration, 1980-1990 ...................... 89 11. Wauconda Net Migration, 1970-1990 . ....... 90 12. Percentage of Homeowners in Villages, 1970-1990 ............... 91 13. Number of Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits in Grayslake, 1970-1990 ....................................... 92 14. Number of Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits in Libertyville, 1970-1993 ....................................... 93 15. Number of Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits in Mundelein, 1970-1993 ....................................... 94 16. Number of Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits in Vernon Hills, 1970-1993 ....................................... 95 v Figure Page 17. Number of Housing Units Authorized by Building Permits in Wauconda, 1970-1993 . 96 18. Median Value of Owner-Occupied Housing in Villages, 1970-1990 . 97 19. Median Family Income for Villages, 1970-1990 . 98 20. Number of Retail Establishments in Villages, 1972-1992 ........... 200 21. Retail Sales in Villages, 1972-1992 ........................ 201 22. Grayslake School Enrollment in Elementary District 46 and High School District 127 . 241 23. Libertyville School Enrollment in Elementary District 70 and High School District 128 . 242 24. Mundelein School Enrollment in Elementary Districts 75 and 79 and High School District 120 . 243 25. Vernon Hills School Enrollment in Elementary District 73 . 244 26. Wauconda School Enrollment in Unit School District 118 . 245 27. Increase in Population and Residential, Commercial/Industrial Land Use, 1970-1990 ..................................... 289 VI LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Population Growth in Northeastern Illinois, 1860-1970 ............. 48 2. Vital Statistics for Northeastern Illinois Counties, 1950-1969 . 55 3. Land Area and Population Density of Villages, 1970-1990 . 84 4. Population of Villages in Study Area, 1950-1990 . 85 5. Percentage Change in Population of Villages, 1950-1994 . 85 6. Developer Donations For Schools and Parks . 251 Vll CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Studies of recent population trends in the United States document the continuing dispersion of metropolitan populations into the rural hinterland (Fuguitt, Heaton and Lichter 1988; Fuguitt, Brown and Beale 1989). This phenomenon has been particu larly dramatic in the six-county Chicago region, where land consumption for residen tial use increased by nearly 47 percent from 1970 to 1990, while the population of the region grew by only 4 percent during the same period (Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission 1991, 9). The deconcentration of population has profound implications for small towns that lie in the path of suburban development. Although growth in the United States traditionally has been viewed as a positive indication of community vitality and has been a source of pride for residents and community leaders in small towns, attitudes about population growth have changed substantially in recent years as municipalities have found it increasingly difficult to deal with the economic and social impact of a rapid influx of new residents. In many places in the rural-urban fringe, where the conversion from agricultural to residential and commercial land use is occurring at a relatively fast pace, growth has become the central issue in local political campaigns. This study focuses on changing attitudes toward growth in five communities in Lake County, Illinois from 1970 to 1995. Figure 1 illustrates the relative location of 2 State of Wisconsin (30 Miles to Milwaukee) Zion Waukegan Grayslake Round Lake Park North Chicago Lake Libertyville Michigan Mundelein Lake Bluff Wauconda Vernon Hills Lake Forest Mettawa Lincolnshire Buffalo Grove Highland Park Kildeer Deerfield Cook County (20 miles to Chicago) t N 0 1 2 3 4 5 miles I I I I I I Scale Fig. 1. Map of Lake County, Illinois, showing the location of communities in the study area. 3 the five villages selected for study, which are the communities of Grayslake, Liberty ville, Mundelein, Vernon Hills and Wauconda. Figure 1 also indicates the location of a number of other places referred to in the following chapters. Lake County, located north of Chicago, is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state and has experienced a number of intense confrontations over development in recent decades. Therefore, the county is fertile ground in which to investigate changes in attitudes toward growth. I have chosen to focus on communities adjacent to one another in order to explore the dynamics of the interaction among neighboring places as they make decisions about development. Although this aspect of rapid growth has largely been ignored, it can have significant consequences in terms of local decision-making related to development. Three research questions have guided this investigation: 1) What issues generate concern as the transition from rural to urban land use occurs in small towns on the rural-urban fringe? 2) How have attitudes toward growth changed over time? and 3) What are some of the social, economic and political consequences of rapid growth? Rural-Urban Fringe Research The general diffusion of the population around metropolitan areas of the United States has eroded many of the traditional distinctions between rural and urban places (White 1987; Frey and Speare 1988). The rural-urban dichotomy has been particu larly problematic in the study of settlement patterns on the periphery of large metropolitan areas, and research in this field has suffered from the absence of a systematic conceptual framework to provide a basis for defining the issues. 4 The term "urban fringe" was first used in 1937 by T. Lynn Smith to refer to the "built up area just outside of the corporate limits of the city" (1937, 26). 1 Walter Firey (1946) compared the fringe to the urban "zone in transition" described in the work of human ecologists in the Chicago