Other municipalities, like the Village of Algonquin next door to Lake in the Hills, have taken a more deliberate approach to contain development. The village negotiated boundary agreements with its neighbors so it can take its time about annexations, and is phasing in development according to an overall plan that attempts to balance residential and commercial land uses. This strategy also allows the village to get the developers to pay for needed infrastructure improvements through the use of recapture agreements, Tax Increment Financing and other financing methods. The City of DeKalb has adopted a similar perspective on planning and development. The city's land use plan focuses on development of vacant land already annexed into the city.
Any further annexations are to be made for deliberate purposes to balance the tax base.
The plan is compatible with the county's goals to protect farmland and encourage compact development, a good example of city-county planning. But, with prime farmland stretching to the horizon in every direction, the City of DeKalb has no natural limits on how much farmland it can annex. The fate of farmland in the remaining unincorporated areas of McHenry and DeKalb counties is left to the county board in each county. The greatest pressure facing McHenry County is keeping property taxes down while paying for the increased cost of the services it provides to county residents. The prevailing attitude of the McHenry County Board is that keeping land as farmland costs less in services than rezoning it for residential use, but bringing in new businesses to the county provides more tax revenues without a demand for increased services.