Kane County needs a warehouse moratorium before it's too late

In the last 18 months, Kane County has approved permits for more than 4.2 million square feet of new warehouse and distribution center space along the Route 47 corridor between Elburn and Burlington. Another 1.8 million square feet sit in the pipeline awaiting action from county and municipal planning boards. It is time — past time, frankly — for elected leaders to impose a temporary moratorium on new logistics facility approvals until a comprehensive land-use study can catch up with what the market is doing to our landscape.

We understand the economic argument. Warehouse developments generate property tax revenue and create jobs, though fewer per square foot than virtually any other commercial use. Proponents point to the tight labor market and the need for modern supply chain infrastructure west of the I-88 corridor. But the costs are real and mounting: overburdened two-lane roads never designed for sustained heavy truck traffic, stormwater systems strained by acres of new impervious surface, and the quiet erasure of productive farmland that has defined this region for generations.