Business View Civil and Municipal | February 2021

41 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL FEBRUARY 2021 V I LLAGE OF LEMONT , I LL INOI S arriving and projects happening all the time, there is always something to discover in Lemont. Unlike other towns, cities, and villages in Illinois that are experiencing a decline in population and enduring many business closures, Lemont’s population has grown steadily over the last few years. In fact, they have added more than 1,000 new residents to their village bringing the total to just north of 17,000. That boom has created a red-hot housing situation with homes selling long before they ever hit the market. Lemont is adding about 100 new dwellings a year with single detached homes, duplexes, and townhomes rising in popularity. The village also boasts some of the lowest residential taxes in the state, making it even more attractive for families. Lemont is a suburb of Chicago and before the COVID-19 pandemic many of its residents made the 30-minute daily commute there and to other surrounding communities, but are now staying home and enjoying the downtown restaurants and local recreation hot spots, like The Forge in the Lemont Quarry. The Forge is a private- public partnership that offers almost everything an outdoor enthusiast could want, including ice skating, igloo-style globe dining, three on three shinny tournaments in the winter, and in the summer, rope courses, ziplines, climbing walls, mountain biking, hiking trails, and a year-round restaurant with its own exclusive beer brewed by nearby Pollyanna Brewing Company. The Forge also offers educational courses, concerts, summer camps and special events – boasting quite accurately that it has something for everyone. The Forge opened in July 2020 in the first phase of its three-phase opening plan and, of course, like all destinations during the pandemic it had to adapt. It did so by taking reservations to ensure social distancing and adhering to local capacity guidelines. The destination was only open on weekends and sold out every one. Berry admits, “I went on a zipline for the first time