Park, Lake, Fen & Beach Committee
A view of the Village...
The Lake...Single family homes surround our beautiful Silver Lake, a gravel-based, forty-seven acre, spring-fed body of water. Our lake contains Northern Pike, Walleye, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, catfish, various Panfish, Rock Bass and Carp.
The Park and Fen...The forty-two acre Village park includes a fen, dedicated as an Illinois Nature Preserve and managed by the McHenry County Conservation District. The park sports a baseball diamond, volleyball court, basketball court and nature trails through lovely wooded ravines.
LAKESHORE PROTECTION ORDINANCE
The initial discussion in our Lake and Parks Committee about the possibility of creating an ordinance came from three different directions:
- The need to look at our Municipal Ordinances for water quality protection as part of the watershed planning process,
- The distress expressed by many of the lakeside residents and residents of the Village as to activities occurring on the lake by individual homeowners, and
- The need for more awareness on the part of the Village and the residents as to Federal, State and County regulatory requirements.
I therefore called Mike Mahalak of the Army Corps of Engineers, Mark Phipps the County storm water engineer and Holly Hudson from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). I told them that we had some issues on the lake that we needed help with and would they assist the Village with resolving them through an educational evening, as well as, assistance with creating a Lakeshore Protection Ordinance.
We had short presentations by the Army COE on the Federal requirements regulating lakes and rivers and their permit program, the County Stormwater engineer spoke about the Ccounty regulations for stormwater management and their permit program. Finally, an aquatic biologist from CMAP to talk about the State programs that she is coordinating for our lake water quality monitoring as well as for our watershed action plan and our lake management plan, and the federal and state dollars allocated to that planning process.
The watershed action planning process will be getting underway later this summer and we will be inviting anyone who is interested to participate in this process. This planning process will be inviting all interested stakeholders to participate, including Municipal and Local government, Park Ddistricts, the County Conservation district, watershed residents and not for profits.
There is a lot going on at the moment, and we invite everyone to participate in the discussions and preparation of the Lakeshore Protection Ordinance which is a piece of the prescription for our clean waters. We will keep you updated on our progress through our web page and these e-newsletters. We hope to see you there!
There are two municipal beaches where residents gather for summer fun - picnicking, swimming, sand castle-building or simply lazing in the sun.
Rowboats, paddle boats, canoes and small sailboats dot this quiet lake where no motors are allowed. The lake, well-stocked with muskies, northerns, bass and an array of pan-fish is ever alluring to the avid fisher-persons of the Village.
Winter has its own special attractions. When the lake freezes over, the ice is alive with hockey games, figure skaters, ice fishing fans and cross-country skiers.