(Chicago) With Lake
Michigan stretched out like an ocean, plus miles of meandering streams and
rivers,
northeastern
Illinois’ water resources can seem unlimited.
Yet the reality is that a good portion of the region’s waterways are polluted,
and increased development pressures threaten the supply of water in some areas
of the region.
To
determine the best approach to protecting and preserving the region’s water,
Openlands Project, the Campaign for Sensible Growth, and the Metropolitan
Planning Council (MPC) undertook a year-long study, funded by the Joyce
Foundation, to examine relationships between development practices and water
quality and quantity management in 12 northeastern Illinois counties: Boone,
Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry,
and Will.
The resulting report,
Changing Course:
Recommendations for Balancing Regional Growth and Water Resources in
Northeastern Illinois
, was released at a Campaign for Sensible Growth membership meeting on
Dec. 16, 2004,
at AT&T, 227
W.
Monroe
St.,
Chicago.
The report offers an overview of the state of the region’s water resources and
makes recommendations for improving state policies, watershed planning, and
local development practices and ordinances. The authors identify actions that
should be implemented to
protect
Illinois’ high quality streams, rivers and
lakes from the unnecessarily ill effects of urbanization.
“It is critical for our local and state officials to make
sound land use decisions that sustain our water resources,” said Scott
Goldstein, MPC’s vice president of policy & planning, and a project
principal of
Changing Course
.
“It can be done, and we intend to put our strategy into action in the coming
months and years, for instance by educating local officials, planners and
developers on best practices for land use and water conservation.”
An encouraging sign is that some state and county
agencies, communities and developers already are moving in the right direction,
according to Joyce O’Keefe, associate director and policy director of Openlands
Project, and a project principal of
Changing Course
.
“However, most of these
efforts are dispersed,” O’Keefe noted. “That’s why one very important component
of our strategy is to work with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to
help create an effective statewide watershed program that coordinates local,
state and regional efforts.”
Indeed, at the
meeting, Openlands Project, the Campaign for Sensible Growth and MPC recognized
the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for taking the first
steps toward creating such a program and for
revamping
its oversight of wastewater treatment areas, called facility planning areas.
“There is no end in sight to the region’s development, and the IEPA understands that the agency has a critical
role in protecting Illinois’ waterways and ensuring that drinking water is
safe and abundant now and in the future,” said Renee Cipriano, director, Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency. “That’s why we are continuing to
work in partnership with regional organizations toward adopting a watershed-wide approach to
wastewater management that broadens the role of key stakeholders and
governmental bodies.”
Architect Bill Sturm, principal, Serena Sturm Associates, and Martin
Jaffe,
professor,
University
of
Illinois
at
Chicago’s
College
of Urban
Planning, also spoke
at the event, which was moderated by Chicago Public Radio’s environment
reporter, Steve Shadley.
After
the meeting, O’Keefe and Goldstein held an audio news conference to highlight
the report’s main points and field questions from the media.
Changing Course: Recommendations for Balancing
Regional Growth and Water Resources in Northeastern Illinois
, is available as a PDF download on the Campaign for Sensible Growth’s Web
site, www.growingsensibly.org.
The Joyce Foundation provided special funding for the
Water Resources and Sustainable Growth in the Chicago Region project, of which
Changing Course
is one component. The
project also received support through the Campaign for Sensible Growth, which is
funded by the Grand Victoria Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, Gaylord and
Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
and McCormick Tribune Foundation. MPC undertook work on this project as part of
its Regional Action Agenda, of which the Campaign for Sensible Growth is a
component. Funders include The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
The Chicago Community Trust, McCormick Tribune Foundation, and Aon Corporation.
The
Campaign for Sensible Growth is an action-oriented coalition of government,
civic, and business leaders in northeastern Illinois’ six counties (Cook,
DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will) working to promote economic development
while preserving open space, minimizing the need for costly new infrastructure,
and improving the livability of our communities.
Openlands
Project protects, expands, and enhances public open
space -- both both land and water -- within the greater Chicago
metropolitan area, and beyond, into counties across state lines into
southeastern Wisconsin, northwestern Indiana, and extreme southwestern Michigan
to provide a healthy natural environment and more livable place for people
throughout the region. Openlands also advocates for improved statewide policies
for the protection of open space across Illinois.
Founded in 1934,
MPC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of business and civic leaders committed to
serving the public interest through the promotion and implementation of sensible
planning and development policies necessary for a world-class
Chicago
region. MPC
conducts policy analysis, outreach and advocacy in partnership with public
officials and community leaders to improve equity of opportunity and quality of
life throughout the metropolitan
Chicago
.
For more information, contact project principals of
Changing Course
, Scott Goldstein, MPC’s vice president of policy & planning,
at 312.863.6003 or sgoldstein@metroplanning.org; and Joyce O’Keefe, Openland
Project’s associate director and policy director, at 312.427.4256 or jokeefe@openlands.org
.