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As a retired residential building contractor, I have worked in two states, five counties, and countless municipalities. On most projects “sightlines” (what current residents see from their homes) and impact on community were considerations. New housing projects often impacted the view of existing residents (sometimes negative) and changed the community (typically positive). The same is true for new housing projects in Cook County. In fact, the issues might be heightened in Cook County for a number of reasons. The identified 500 plus housing units needed in the next four years will certainly impact our community.
On the positive side, more housing would be a good thing in the community. The current lack of housing has been identified as the main impediment to economic growth. Inability to find housing has forced new hires in schools, hospital, government, and private business to leave the county. New housing options would be key to filling these empty, but important, job opportunities. Housing options would help our young families stay in the community and attract young families from outside our area. Young families are necessary to keep our schools open and maintain a healthy age distribution of our population. City and county budgets financed by increased taxable housing units lessens our individual tax burden by some degree.
On the negative side of housing development in the county is change. Changes in traffic, noise, sightlines and environment can be argued against new developments in specific locations. Some of these issues could be resolved by scattering those 500 units across the county on lake lots and hidden in the forest on 5 and 10 acres. That is the most expensive option in land, private infrastructure and over all building costs with no efficiencies within density/ contiguous sites. It would have the worst impact on the wild and remote nature of Cook County that we residents and our visitors cherish. Due to higher cost, those homes would be built largely by well-financed and aging citizens who would require more services to be delivered by a shrinking pool of providers due to lack of workforce housing.
Professional and non-professional workforce housing must be made available if Cook County is to continue a positive growth and change pattern. To meet this challenge, outside contractors will be needed as our resident contractors are already working at full capacity.
Clustered housing, be it apartments, townhomes, or subdivided acreage, must be sited in Grand Marais and the townships where infrastructure is most available and puts less strain on public and emergency services.
So that brings us back to sightlines. Neighbors of these new projects will be asked to bear the brunt of that immediate change. The new housing might change the up-close view, but the sweeping vistas of our forested hills and Lake Superior will be unchanged, still visible by stepping around any obstruction and for most of our commute. I would suggest the citizens of Cook County recognize what is noticed and what is not noticed. We might be aware of the noise of increased traffic in our neighborhood, but not hear the silence of empty seats from unfilled job openings across the county. We might be aware of our anxiety over who the new neighbors might be but unaware of our accommodation of the irritating neighbor we already have.
Change can be difficult but is certainly inevitable. Most of us who have lived long enough can remember a time before a change happened that we would have preferred didn’t happen. But it did and we coped. I have every confidence that the citizens of Cook County will all do our part to meet the housing challenge in front of us. Those working on the front lines will be noticed but those that must cope with the change might not be so noticed. So, I want to notice you here, with respect. It is my belief that when the dust settles, new housing in any form in Cook County will be a good thing for all of us.
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