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For Immediate Release

Federal Officials Encourage Regional Partnerships

Chicago, December 16, 1999:  Two senior federal officials today addressed the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) on ways their agencies can work together with regional efforts to achieve balanced growth. Rosanna Marquez, Secretary's Representative in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Francis X. Lyons, Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration (USEPA), spoke at the planning agency's quarterly meeting in Chicago.

Administrator Lyons noted the progress which has been made in addressing environmental issues in the 30 years since USEPA was created. He said that most of the easy problems have been solved, and that each additional step becomes more difficult and requires more creative and collaborative solutions. He noted that while cars have become cleaner, our urban growth pattern still encourages people to drive more miles. The total amount of pollutants discharged thus remains high. Similarly, due to the impacts of stormwater runoff from both urban and agricultural land, forty percent of our streams still do not support swimming or fishing.

Lyons said that USEPA will continue to work with states, regional agencies, and local governments to return contaminated brownfield sites to productive use. He noted that new stormwater regulations, applicable to construction sites and other urban uses as well as to confined animal feedlot operations, are an important step to improving the quality of the environment.

Lyons commended NIPC and its partners in Chicago Wilderness for the development of the Chicago Region Biodiversity Recovery Plan which the commission adopted at the meeting. He also praised the Clean Air Dialogue, a joint initiative by the City of Chicago, the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and the Delta Institute to identify public and private actions which, when taken together, will have a significant impact on the region's air quality. NIPC has been a participant in the dialogue.

Marquez, a NIPC Commissioner from 1990 to 1997, spoke of major regional challenges facing HUD. These include support for welfare-to-work programs and programs to increase the availability of affordable housing accessible to the region's strongest employment markets. Assured accessibility to housing and jobs for all of the citizens of the region, she said, is of the highest priority.

Marquez commended NIPC's subarea residential planning demonstration project as an innovative intergovernmental approach to identifying and responding to future housing needs. In the project, NIPC facilitated eleven communities and Kane and McHenry counties in assessing their future housing requirements and identifying strategies for meeting them. Marquez helped establish the project during her term as a Chicago representative on NIPC.

Responding to the two speakers, NIPC President Herbert Schumann said "Planning is increasingly a matter of partnerships. We look forward to continuing to work with HUD and USEPA as we develop and implement a regional growth strategy to encourage balanced, equitable, and environmentally sensitive development in northeastern Illinois."

The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission is the comprehensive planning agency for the six-county metropolitan area. In addition to planning, the agency provides technical and research assistance and reviews state and federal grant requests for local governments.

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