Follow your local newspaper or
attend your community's board meeting, and you'll learn of imminent development
plans in the works. As local government decision makers everywhere review, tweak
and approve proposals, they also grapple with how to prepare for the region's
population swell — a projected growth of nearly 2 million people by 2030 — in
ways that benefit their communities.
But, in northeastern
Illinois
, more than 90 mayors
changed seats in April, in addition to hundreds of board member turnovers and
new appointments. In
Will
County
alone, 1 out of 3
communities have new faces at the helm. Regionwide, new leaders are evaluating
the merits and downfalls of housing, retail and commercial development proposals
and shaping the future of their communities.
Many of these critical development
decisions are being made by elected and appointed officials who voluntarily
serve on planning and zoning commissions, and town or city councils — and who
often lack backgrounds in community planning. Some also have neither resources
nor staff available to aid in development and re-development decision making, or
to help with potentially community-altering verdicts. And even for those that
do, it's difficult to make informed and sensible decisions on every proposal
that comes forth.
Already, communities across the
south suburbs and
Will
County
are facing that
proverbial fork in the road. They are challenged to embrace cutting-edge design
tenets — including new urbanist, transit-oriented, mixed-use, and conservation
development — as they work to revitalize town centers and neighborhoods,
maintain open space and improve both the tax base and quality of life. South
Holland and Glenwood are designing new town centers;
Tinley Park
and New Lenox are implementing
transit-oriented development plans; And Manhattan and
Plainfield
are trying to prepare for
future growth. Meanwhile, others towns are struggling to develop a reinvestment
strategy — that road map to the future. In most communities, local officials are
considering development proposals at each and every board meeting — and it's
critical that they carefully weigh the real, long-term effects for both
residents and business owners before making decisions which will shape the
Southland's future.
Yet across the region, subdivisions get approved, parcels
annexed, and zoning decisions made, often without being measured against a
comprehensive plan or community vision. Fortunately, there's help. Since
livable, attractive communities are created as a result of hundreds, even
thousands, of development decisions, last year the Metropolitan Planning
Council (MPC) collaborated with the Campaign for Sensible
Growth
and the
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus to develop Sensible Tools for Healthy Communities: A
Decision-Making Workbook for Local Officials, Developers and Community
Leaders.
The Sensible Tools workbook is a
hands-on aid that helps community leaders and developers make the right
decisions on new developments in the context of an individual community's needs.
The workbook has become a popular tool that can — and should — be used by all
communities, no matter their stage of development.
This week, MPC will partner with
several area mayors' groups in an interactive workshop called "What's your
development plan?" at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 30 at
Orland Park
Civic
Center
. More than 100 elected and
appointed officials, planning and zoning commission members, business leaders,
and other community development partners will participate in a simulation game
that illustrates how the Sensible Tools workbook helps communities answer a very
tough question: "How do you decide if a proposal is right for your
community?"
MPC also works directly with
communities to provide technical assistance on many levels. We've been invited
to bring forth best practices and help leaders forge solutions to unique
challenges within their communities. Here in the Southland, MPC has partnered
with
Beecher
,
Joliet
, Midlothian,
Park Forest
and Riverdale, among others,
helping address housing issues, revitalize commercial corridors, leverage
transit-oriented development, and clean up watersheds and
brownfields.
With so much planning and
development activity taking place, local decision makers should utilize the
tools and resources available to them as they face the myriad decisions and
"forks" in the road. Armed with best practices and proven strategies; knowing
what questions to consider before approving development; and utilizing the
expertise of professional staff, consultants and partners, the elected and
appointed officials will be well-prepared. Meeting the challenge to improve
economic development, equity of opportunity, and quality of life with each
important decision they make not only benefits their own communities but
strengthens the region as a whole.