ELBURN – Village residents who want a say in shaping Elburn's future are invited to participate in an open house event today at John Stewart Elementary School, 817 Prairie Valley St., Elburn.

The event takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. It is part of the process of updating Elburn's comprehensive plan. At last week's Village Board meeting, a workshop took place with consulting firm Images Inc. The work is funded through the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, with a budget of $100,000.

At the open house, those interested are welcome to drop by to check out the information and add their own comments.

Village President Dave Anderson said it is "an opportunity for the community to get involved."

"It's basically just what it says," Anderson said. "It's an open house that will be staffed by the folks at Images Inc., and they will be going over questions, comments and everything they can and asking for questions and comments that will be helpful in establishing a new land-use comprehensive plan."

There have been workshops and interviews with residents and community leaders, and Anderson said he has been especially impressed with feedback received from students. He said they took it seriously, which he said was important. He said he told them that "20 years from now, you and your families are the village of Elburn."

"They picked up on that very quickly," he said.

Anderson said the feedback from all is valued as the village shapes its future as it continues to go through growth. Much can change in 20 years – the village's 1990 U.S. Census population was 1,275. It now is above 5,000. And plans for the Elburn Station development call for more than 2,200 new homes to be built in Elburn over the next 20 years.