Summer 2001

Long Grove: New Kind of Village President

Anthony "Tony" Dean did not intend to run for president of the Village of Long Grove. But an advancing proposal to build a large hotel and banquet facility immediately adjoining the largest park in the center of the village and similar challenges to the villages natural environment called out for new leadership. Dean was elected president in April.

A former director of the Illinois Department of Conservation (1973-76) and president of the Board of the Openlands Project, Dean and his family have lived in Long Grove since 1987. Dean had served on the Planning Commission since 1991 but had never held elective office.

"Long Grove residents by and large are committed to keeping what they came here for — open spaces either on the property they purchased or on the property they share, our parks and village open space," Dean said. "We also are going to have to deal with the ever-present pressures of pace, traffic congestion, and cell towers in an imaginative and creative way."

Dean noted that one of the Village's parks had been acquired years ago to serve as a buffer to the historic business district, yet recent development plans threatened its integrity. Dean asked, "Why aren't Park District commissioners acting more aggressively as stewards or protectors of open space?"

Dean hopes to shepherd a review of the Village's comprehensive plan, to add to Village open space through trails and pathways, and to reach practical, near-term solutions to traffic congestion.

"My career has been spent working with people to be more engaged in the decisions of public bodies that will be badly made if people don't engage in them," Dean added.

— Adam Wilson