Wonder Lake Village Administrator William Beith heard about the community’s new claim to fame last weekend via a text from one of the trustees.
“We knew we were going to grow, but I would not have guessed the fastest in the state,” Beith said.
But according to data newly released by the U.S. Census Bureau, Wonder Lake’s population as of July 1, 2023, was estimated at 4,889, up from 3,966 since 2020 – an increase of 23.27%, the largest of any municipality in Illinois. That growth can be attributed to two housing developments: The Meadows of West Bay and Stonewater.
The building boom in Wonder Lake started shortly after Beith started working for the village in June 2021.
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“Two weeks after I started here, the guy from [Stonewater builder] D.R. Horton came in with 60 building permits. We had two in all of the previous year,” Beith said.
In May alone, there were 15 approved home construction permits in the village, he said.
Stonewater is expected to bring a total of 3,400 to 3,700 homes, and an additional 10,000 residents, to the village in the next 20 years. The section now underway now has 711 housing units in it, Beith said, including single-family houses, townhomes, duplexes and an age-targeted, attached four-unit model.
The Meadows of West Bay, a Wonder Lake subdivision, is being completed by a builder after the original company, Neumann Homes, went bankrupt in 2007. It is one of two developments that has made Wonder Lake the fastest-growing town in Illinois. (Janelle Walker)
The Meadows of West Bay was a Neumann Homes development, left unfinished after the builder when bankrupt in 2007. Another developer, Lennar, bought and is finishing the development, which has between 300 and 400 homes in it, Beith said.
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Village officials knew that eventually, Wonder Lake would be on the map for new residents.
“It was a matter of time until the universe aligned to get it moving,” said Village President Dan Dycus. The village and developer Andy Teegen of McHenry-based NRB Land worked together to get Stonewater ready for development, including city water and sewer, far in advance of any homes being built there.
“Wonder Lake will be a lot stronger if we lean into ourselves. We can benefit if those tax dollars go to our municipality, versus being sent to the county.”
— Wonder Lake Village President Dan Dycus
Those utility systems were designed to serve east-side Wonder Lake residents and businesses too. The village hopes that by later summer or early fall, it will begin the project of extending both utilities from Stonewater to businesses along Hancock Drive that are currently on private well and septic systems. The village’s de facto downtown, the commercial corridor was annexed into Wonder Lake in February.
Other preparations the village has made in advance of the growth include using grant funds to purchase additional vehicles for the police department, increasing department salaries and expanding its parks.
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“New public parks and pickleball courts have been added in Meadows of West Bay, a frisbee golf course was added in Woods Creek Park and Stonewater has a center park with over 11 miles of walking paths,” Dycus said.
Homes in the Stonewater development on Thursday, June 6, 2024. New census data reports Wonder Lake is the fastest growing town in the state because of Stonewater and Meadows of West Bay. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )
Wonder Lake making news headlines for its growth is a little nerve-rattling, Dycus added.
“It puts us on the radar. I want to make sure the village lives up to the reputation” that buzz creates, he said.
At the same time, Wonder Lake wants to appeal to its longtime residents, as well as those who are not in the village. Another 4,000 residents around Wonder Lake are not inside the village limits.
“That is what we have to balance, the generations of people who have lived in Wonder Lake all of their lives” who want to retain the small-town feel, Dycus said.
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The Hancock annexation and utility improvements also means those utilities will soon be closer to other, unincorporated sections of the village. Dycus hopes that encourages others to seek annexation.
“Wonder Lake will be a lot stronger if we lean into ourselves. We can benefit if those tax dollars go to our municipality, versus being sent to the county,” Dycus said.
What the growth also could bring to Wonder Lake is additional commercial investment, Trustee Joe Houston said.
More rooftops and residents “gives us that boost to attract new business to the downtown area,” Houston said.
If you’re an Illini fan today, you’re probably somewhere putting your feet up, basking in the glow of an epic come-from-behind football win and an iron-fisted basketball beatdown, and patting yourself on the back for a hard day’s work rooting on your favorite nationally ranked programs. Oh, and you’re undoubtedly asking yourself a question:
Who in the world is Ed Cooley?
Unless you’re a die-hard college basketball fan, you can be forgiven for scratching your head over the name. Cooley, the current coach of the Georgetown Hoyas and previously a longtime head man at Providence and Fairfield, doesn’t do a lot of business in the Midwest, or anywhere else – like, say, the NCAA Tournament – where you might have seen him often.
More to the point, what does Cooley have to do with the Illini? It’s a fair question – one that a lot of observers were asking in the wake of his postgame press conference after his Hoyas’ 82-65 win over Saint Francis on Saturday.
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Ostensibly, the subject of conversation was Hoyas guard Jayden Epps and his glowing defensive performance against the Red Flash, but it was the Illini (and, by implication, coach Brad Underwood and his staff) who wound up catching strays from 700 miles away.
You may remember that Epps – a top high school prospect out of Norfolk, Virginia, a few years back – signed with Illinois and played his freshman season in Champaign. Had a pretty good year, too: averages of 9.5 points and 1.5 assists in 31 games, including 11 starts. But Epps bounced out of Illinois through the transfer portal – and wasn’t the first or last in the Underwood era – and landed at Georgetown.
Perhaps Cooley felt Epps was underappreciated in Champaign and thought he was defending his guy. Maybe he even thought he had been mistreated. But the message wasn’t a response or reaction – it was delivered unprompted, without further context or explanation. it was a calculated shot wrapped in an offhanded remark inside a monumentally dumb decision. Neither Cooley nor Epps gained anything from the comment. It just came off as sour grapes.
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Cooley must have recognized as much – or been instructed by an administrator that he had better – because he quickly apologized for the indiscretion. Sort of:
“My comment today was said in jest with one of my players, but I admit it was a poor choice of words,” Cooley posted on his X social media account. “I have the utmost respect for the University of Illinois, its men’s basketball program, coaches and players.”
For his part, Underwood blew off the beef when asked about Cooley’s comments in the postgame presser following Illinois’ 87-40 shellacking of Maryland Eastern Shore.
“My guys told me about it,” Underwood said. “That’s not even worth wasting my time on. I don’t know what he’s referencing that about. Jayden had a productive freshman year here. But I’m not getting into all that. I’ll let our fans have some fun with that, which I’m sure they probably are. But I’ve got Arkansas Little Rock to worry about and Arkansas to worry about and Northwestern to worry about and everybody else to worry about. I mean, I don’t read [the media’s] stuff, I’m sure as heck not gonna read his.”
Illini fans will surely have less tolerance and longer memories for this sort of thing than Underwood himself, so of course we’re rooting for an Illinois-Georgetown NCAA Tournament matchup. Because what’s March Madness without a little extra chaos?
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Will Riley scored his 19 points in the second half and No. 25 Illinois beat Maryland Eastern Shore 87-40 on Saturday.
Kylan Boswell added 13 points, Tomislav Ivisic had 11 and Morez Johnson Jr. finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Illini (4-1), who shot 25% (10 for 40) from 3-point range but committed just nine turnovers.
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Tre White grabbed 11 rebounds and Kasparas Jakucionis seven for Illinois, which outrebounded the Hawks 59-38.
Jalen Ware scored 10 points and Christopher Flippin had 10 rebounds for Maryland Eastern Shore (2-6), which had its lowest point total of the season. The team’s previous low came in 102-63 loss to Vanderbilt on Nov. 4.
Illinois is unbeaten in four home games. Maryland Eastern Shore is winless in six road games.
Takeaways
Illinois: Coming off a 100-87 loss Wednesday to No. 8 Alabama, the Illini had no trouble dominating the overmatched Hawks. They led 35-15 at halftime and extended the lead to as many as 52 points in the second half.
Maryland Eastern Shore: The Hawks couldn’t match Illinois’ height and depth and were slowed by 15 turnovers.
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Key moment
After struggling at the start of the game, the Illini went on a 17-0 run over a seven-minute stretch to move in front 25-8 with 5:15 to go in the first half.
Key stat
Maryland Eastern Shore struggled from the field, shooting 22% (15 for 68), including 5 for 20 on 3-pointers.
Up next
Illinois hosts Little Rock on Monday. Maryland Eastern Shore plays at No. 20 Arkansas on Monday.
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The women’s Illinois basketball team continued to impress on Friday night with another big win.
Coming into the game, the Illini were 4-0 and had already beaten a top-25 program in Florida State and a good team in Marquette. We were on top of the world.
It would be understandable for a letdown game to happen. Illinois didn’t let it happen, though. We came out of the gates firing, and Oregon State didn’t have answers.
Illinois played well in both halves. We took a 10-point lead into the halftime locker room and quickly expanded on that lead in the third quarter. By the game’s end, Illinois managed to secure an 85-66 win over Oregon State.
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Coming into the game on Friday night, Illinois has been able to hold their own when it comes to the rebounding department. But this wasn’t an easy matchup, as Oregon State is a good rebounding team as well.
Despite Oregon State having some great size, the Illini were tough on the boards. We were able to pull down rebounds at a rate that I was impressed with considering the opposing team had a 6-foot-7 center starting.
Illinois finished the game pulling down 36 rebounds compared to Oregon State’s 34 rebounds. Five of the 36 rebounds were on the offensive glass too, but we didn’t have a ton of opportunities considering the team shot 54.7% from the field.
The thing that impressed me the most about Illinois’ rebounding ability on Friday night was the size differential. Oregon State trotted out a 6-foot-7 center and a 6-foot-5 forward. We limited those two players to just 12 rebounds in 42 minutes of game action.
I think a big part of the great rebounding effort on the part of Illinois is the fact our frontcourt is strong and athletic. It is hard to move Kendall Bostic off her spot, and she does a great job boxing out. The same can be said for Brynn Shoup-Hill. Both players were quicker than anything Oregon State had in the frontcourt too.
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