Despite DeKalb being the 11th highest of 13 cities in population growth within a 15-mile radius from 1999 to 2000, according to DeKalb’s Community Development Department, the debate lingers that DeKalb faces large growth numbers.

With the rise of commercial businesses and residential developments, some citizens have conveyed disdain toward the seemingly fast-paced rate of growth. This was one of many factors that has produced the Growth Summit committee, which looks for concrete and economical methods in monitoring and maintaining manageable growth rates.

But DeKalb sat steady with an 11.7 percent growth rate between the years 1999 and 2000. Cities like Elburn and Cortland saw more than 100 percent growth rate in that same period, while Genoa, Sycamore and Malta saw greater growth rates than DeKalb as well.

Mayor Greg Sparrow said that such a number is reflective of DeKalb’s steady growth, not uncontrolled growth.

“I would hardly call it extreme, fast, uncontrolled or unbridled,” Sparrow said. “Some people have been crying about uncontrolled growth. But compared to those cities, we’re not growing at an uncontrolled rate.”

That comes out to be about .85 percent growth during each year. In the past three years, however, DeKalb has seen that average rise. In 2000, the growth rate was 2.14 percent, in 2001, it was 1.4 percent and in 2002, it was 1.2 percent, Sparrow said.

The extreme growth in 2000 might have resulted from talks with the city council and former Mayor Bessie Chronopoulos of installing impact fees, Sparrow said. Because the fees weren’t officially in place until July 2000, Sparrow said many developers sold, and residents bought property to avoid the fees. Additionally, there was much talk of annexation and discussion by the plan commission to find ways to avoid these fees.

“The reason you saw that spike was because of something unusual,” Sparrow said.

The current growth rate of 1 to 1.5 percent meets the needs of School District 428, which emphasizes the necessary 2 percent maximum growth it can work with in terms of its continued overcrowding issues.

The likely reasoning behind such growth is the westward movement, Sparrow said. With people moving from condensed cities nearer to Chicago, people travel west to look for a reprieve. Sparrow said that what they don’t understand in some cases is that DeKalb would remain stagnant, not witnessing the kind of growth Naperville and Aurora have seen.

“Analysis shows that we’re not looking at runaway growth,” Sparrow said. “With the growth summit proceedings, we’ll come up with a clear cut plan to monitor this growth.”