Introduction
July 1996
August 1996
September 1996
October 1996
November 1996
December 1996
January 1997
February 1997
March 1997
April 1997
May 1997
June 1997

Introduction

On July 6, 1957, Governor William Stratton signed into law the Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Act. In enacting the legislation, the General Assembly found that

It authorized the establishment of an agency to develop and adopt a comprehensive plan for the six-county area and to cooperate with various units of government in comprehensive planning for the future growth and development of the six-county area. The Northeastern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (we shortened our name in 1967) held its first meeting in October of that year. In April 1958 the first Executive Director was appointed, a staff was assembled, and the doors were opened for business.

A major emphasis in that first year's work program was the collection and analysis of demographic, land use, and other information on which to base assessments of the region's direction and its future needs. Late in 1958 the Commission produced its first population forecasts, to the year 1980. A second emphasis was on a study of the extent and uses of open space in the region. The study was intended to assist forest preserve districts and other open space agencies in their planning and acquisition programs. This planning, in turn, would help shape studies of future infrastructure requirements.

Now, 40 years later, these remain areas of high priority for NIPC. Much of our work during 1996-97 was directed to two goals: providing the region with realistic forecasts of future population, households, and jobs in 2020; and expanding the region's capacity to protect its unique natural heritage. Both activities involved sophisticated data collection and analysis and extensive consultation with the region's leaders and citizens to help clarify a shared vision of what northeastern Illinois wants to become. Other program areas also involved these same basic powers assigned to us by the General Assembly in 1957.

In the following pages, we will take you on a month-by-month review of our 40th year. This chronological approach may be helpful in portraying how technical analysis and public discussion are brought together to help guide the growth of a complex community.

July 1996

As the program year began, Commissioners and staff were busy assessing the results of a regional workshop held on June 26. The workshop was designed to assess how much support there might be for some modification of past trends of highly decentralized growth. The Commission sought this information to guide it in the development of realistic population and employment forecasts for 2020.

The workshop was attended by 127 people representing a broad spectrum of organizations and interests. Three general scenarios were presented to illustrate the broad patterns of new household and job growth which might result from implementation of different public policies concerning growth management and airport development. The general discussion revealed two views of how future growth would be shaped. Some participants argued that the market will continue to support dispersed development and that public policy must respond to this demand. Others held that government has a more proactive role in stewarding common values and resources by attempting to shape the market's outcomes. Participants identified a number of factors which influence household and business location choices and thus land use patterns. Any effort to modify the region's growth trends would have to consider these factors. They included the quality of education, the regional tax structure, and particularly the dependence of local governments on property taxes.

Participants were also asked to respond to particular policies which might reverse negative aspects of recent trends. Strong majorities responded favorably to the ideas of encouraging higher densities around transit stations to encourage increased ridership; protecting surface water quality even if this requires development restrictions in high-quality watersheds; supporting contiguous development in areas already served by public infrastructure; and funding infill strategies to encourage employment and income growth in areas suffering from disinvestment. These responses suggested a broad recognition that past trends have had some undesirable consequences which may require deliberate public remedies.

August 1996

Collaborative regional planning requires more than large conferences and events. The region's work also takes place in day-to-day exchanges of information and assistance between NIPC and its local government constituents. Much of this interaction is done by the Local Service Officers, nine senior professionals assigned to maintain liaison with particular county or sub-county areas. During August, these staff members made NIPC's technical and organizational resources available to local governments and organizations in connection with a watershed plan for Wonder Lake; an overall land use plan for the I-88 corridor; hydrologic studies for DuPage County; a directory of training programs for local governments; a joint land use plan around a potential tollway interchange in Fremont Township; an ecosystem study on the Kishwaukee River; legislation to establish a buffer zone around the proposed south suburban airport; water quality surveys in the Central Lake County corridor; and a workshop on geographic information systems for south and southwest suburban communities. Local Service and Natural Resources staff members also responded to serious flooding in July by providing information on flood hazard mitigation techniques to local, state, and federal officials. This effort continued throughout the year and included contractual assistance to newly-formed stormwater management agencies in Kane and Will counties.

September 1996

On September 6, 160 elected and appointed officials, civic leaders, and citizens gathered for a second regional workshop to carry forward the discussion which had been initiated in June. The second event started from the determination that moderation of past growth trends enjoyed considerable support. We sought input as to what policy tools would be effective and feasible for accomplishing that moderation. NIPC staff provided participants with a briefing paper which identified policy tools which had been used with some success in this or other metropolitan regions. Some of these were policies with presumed regional effects which would help moderate the rate of dispersed development and/or encourage reinvestment in mature communities. Others were more local in scale and would promote planning and development supportive of congestion relief, environmental protection, and prudent public investment in areas of new growth.

In general discussion and in responses to a questionnaire, participants gave high marks to four tools with respect to their feasibility, their probable effectiveness in actually shaping development or mitigating its undesired consequences, and the support they might garner. These four were: funding for the maintenance of the existing transportation system; liability limits and tax credits to redevelop contaminated "brownfield" land; infrastructure grants to support redevelopment, infill, and compact and contiguous development; and improved transportation between housing and jobs. Other tools addressed to growth issues in both mature and growing areas received lesser but still substantial endorsement. Two policies which have been widely discussed among growth management advocates - tax-base sharing and establishment of an urban growth boundary - were assessed as neither feasible nor likely to gain much support. The overall conclusion to be drawn from the conference was that there are policies supportive of moderated growth trends which are being or could be implemented in northeastern Illinois.

October 1996

During 1996, ecological restoration programs carried on by a number of open space agencies became a matter of public controversy. Because restoration often involves the removal of some plant species for the benefit of others, they may be opposed by people who like forest preserves or other natural areas the way they are or who do not understand the scientific basis for restorative actions. Some elected boards felt compelled to suspend these programs in response to public concerns.

In response to this debate, the Commission convened a Forum on Ecological Restoration on October 9. Experts from a variety of agencies and organizations presented current information on the purpose, value, methods, and status of ecological restoration to an audience of public officials and interested citizens. Speakers at the forum emphasized that the natural areas of northeastern Illinois co-exist with seven million people who are also part of the "nature" of the region. The forests, wetlands, prairies and savannas held by the forest preserve and conservation districts are difficult to maintain because we have altered the balance of nature by introducing foreign and invasive plants; suppressing the natural cycle of prairie fires; altering hydrology; and fragmenting natural habitats. Protecting the quality of these natural areas is of special concern because the region contains the richest concentrations and some of the best examples of natural areas in the state and in the nation. Since the forum, most of the restoration programs which were halted have been reactivated.

November 1996

Staff concluded a series of local meetings intended to help assure that the 2020 forecasts, when endorsed, would reflect what is most likely to take place in the region. Over a two-month period, members of the Research and Local Service staffs met with municipal and county officials to review forecast assumptions and learn about local plans and development expectations. Preliminary forecasts of households and employment were sent to each mayor and village president and to county planners. The forecasts included alternatives reflecting different possible assumptions about overall patterns of regional growth. Each community also received a map identifying the future municipal boundaries assumed in the forecasts. NIPC staff then set up shop for several days in village halls centrally located in each of the counties except DuPage (where local forecast input was collected by County Development Department staff). Elected officials and their planning staffs were encouraged to bring in detailed comments on the forecasts. Many identified specific areas in which they anticipated growth higher or lower than that assumed by NIPC. They also provided information on current and future annexation patterns and on boundary agreements in place or under consideration. By the time the consultation process was concluded, representatives of 207 municipalities had participated. County officials and planning staff also commented on the overall forecasts for their jurisdictions. In addition to these small-area meetings, seven meetings were held jointly with the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) to give the general public a chance to comment on transportation goals and the preliminary forecasts.

December 1996

At the Commission's December quarterly meeting, staff presented the results of the technical analysis, local consultation, and public workshops conducted over the preceding months. The Commission then released a set of preliminary small-area forecasts of population and employment for the year 2020. These were to be used by the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) in testing alternative transportation networks. These tests would establish the adequacy of these networks to meet future travel needs and to contribute to meeting the region's clean air requirements. The Commission also adopted a policy statement that the final 2020 forecasts of population and employment would assume the active implementation of public policy measures which might be effective in moderating the rapid physical decentralization of the region. This statement reflected the results of public discussion at the regional workshops and meetings , which had led to two conclusions. The first was that future growth could not continue along the path of past trends and that efforts should be made to moderate the physical decentralization of northeastern Illinois. The second was that public policy measures necessary to accomplish a modification of trends are technically and politically feasible and are likely to be implemented in northeastern Illinois. The Commission directed that its final forecasts be prepared consistent with that policy.

January 1997

Based on the policy statement adopted in December and on local consultation, staff proceeded with the technical work necessary to produce small-area forecasts of population, households and employment for use in transportation planning. Two sets of forecasts for the year 2020 and intermediate years were required. Both were based on the existing road and commuter rail networks with limited additions of projects for which funding was committed. One set assumed that future increased air travel demand will be met at O'Hare and Midway airports. The second assumed that a new south suburban airport will be developed. It was clear that the future distribution of development activity in the region would be shaped, as it has been in the past, by the accessibility of air service. The Commission and CATS decided to carry forward two sets of forecasts until a decision is reached on the development of the south suburban facility.

Both forecasts indicated continuing strong growth in the newer suburban areas. They also indicated stabilization of employment and jobs in many mature communities which had declined in recent decades. Finally, they showed growth in both population and jobs in the City of Chicago, reversing recent trends. In presenting the preliminary forecasts, staff emphasized that the moderation of past trends, reflected in high levels of investment or reinvestment in mature communities, will not necessarily occur in the absence of deliberate public policy intervention. The forecasts were presented to a joint meeting of NIPC's Forecast Policy Committee and CATS's Regional Transportation Plan Committee. The joint meeting was one of many steps taken by the two agencies to assure close coordination between land use and transportation policy and technical considerations.

 February 1997

A group of Commissioners and staff spent two days in Washington D.C. meeting with members of the northeastern Illinois congressional delegation to lay before them the region's federal policy concerns. These meetings on Capitol Hill have become an annual part of NIPC's attendance at the Washington policy conference of the National Association of Regional Councils. The NIPC Commissioners met with Senators Durbin and Moseley-Braun and with Congressmen Jackson, Porter, Fawell, Lipinski, Gutierrez, and Hastert. They also met with staff for Congressmen Yates, Hyde, Weller, Rush, Manzullo, and Blagojevich. The primary item of discussion was the reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). The region's ability to meet the highway and transit needs of a growing economy depends on the continuation of this funding. The Commissioners also emphasized the importance of reauthorizing the Clean Water Act, including provisions for the Clean Lakes program and strengthened wetland and nonpoint source protection; of establishing a consolidated system of job training and workforce development programs; and of encouraging the remediation and reuse of contaminated "brownfield" sites.

In Springfield, the Commission testified before the Illinois House Local Government Committee in support of House Bill 321. This legislation, initiated by NIPC, would clarify local governments' authority to prepare intergovernmental plans for land use and other subjects. The Intergovernmental Planning Act would allow counties, municipalities, and other local governments to develop and adopt joint plans for areas of common interest to them and to implement measures to carry out these plans. The proposed legislation was the result of a three-year process to which numerous public officials, civic leaders, professional planners, and attorneys contributed their time. A number of local governments and associations of governments have joined the Commission in supporting the proposal. The bill was reported out favorably by the committee. It was subsequently approved by the full House and sent to the Senate. At the end of the program year, the Senate had not yet acted.

 March 1997

NIPC staff served as conveners of a group of county, municipal, and special-purpose agencies with jurisdiction related to flood control in Cook County. The intent was to encourage development of a county response to the draft Upper Des Plaines River Flood Control Feasibility Study Report prepared by the Corps of Engineers. Acceptance of the Corps' study or development of a locally preferred plan is necessary to secure federal funding for needed flood control projects on the Des Plaines River. The Cook County session followed a larger gathering before NIPC's Water Resources Committee in February. At that meeting, agencies with broad responsibility for flood control on the Upper Des Plaines River briefed the committee on the development of a coordinated plan. In addition to the Corps of Engineers, agencies represented at the meeting included the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Lake County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission, and the Northwest and West Central Municipal Conferences. The meetings were two of many, on a variety of topics, facilitated by NIPC in its role as a regional forum on complex intergovernmental issues.

CATS and NIPC held public meetings in four locations to seek public comment on CATS' "test" transportation network of projects proposed for inclusion in the updated transportation plan, and on NIPC's forecasts related to the existing transportation system. Public comment was sought by the Commission prior to making adjustments to the forecasts being used in air quality testing of the transportation network. At the same time, the staff began development of forecasts related to the "test" network.

April 1997

April 10 marked the first anniversary of Chicago Wilderness, a joint venture of NIPC and 33 other governmental, civic, and educational organizations. This coalition, organized as the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council, came together out of shared concern to preserve a unique complex of environmental resources extending from southeastern Wisconsin around to Indiana's border with Michigan. This great crescent, home to over eight million people, contains numerous high-quality natural areas with national and even global significance. They include the Lake Calumet marshes; the prairie sloughs, black oak savannahs, and sand prairies of Illinois Beach State Park; inland wet prairies, depressional wetlands, and sedge meadows; the Fox River valley fens; black soil prairies such as the West Chicago Prairie, which supports 535 species of native vascular plants; and the remnant wetlands of the lower Des Plaines River valley which support the federally-endangered Hines Emerald dragon fly. These are preserved fragments of ecosystems which developed over thousands of years and which greeted the first European settlers to what became a complex metropolitan region. Preserving these treasures for their scientific, educational, and ecological benefits in the midst of rapid urban growth and expansion requires a wide variety of technical skills and extensive public education. The Commission's participation in Chicago Wilderness continues a 40-year commitment to the preservation of open space for its ecological and recreational benefits.

At its monthly meeting in April, the Commission's Planning Committee endorsed requests for $3.48 million in federal grants to support twenty trail projects submitted by counties, municipalities, and park districts. The grants, from the Land and Water Conservation (LawCon) and Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) programs, would be matched by $4.2 million in local funds. The projects were recognized by the Commission as important elements in the implementation of the Northeastern Illinois Regional Greenways Plan.

May 1997

On May 8, the Commission convened its 1997 Annual Conference. The conference, entitled Putting the Pieces Together, was a step in a two-year effort by the Commission to engage the region in a discussion of its future shape. Putting the Pieces Together was designed as a regional exchange of ideas and techniques for moderating past trends of decentralized growth and their unintended negative effects. The conference brought together practitioners from the region's communities and from other parts of the country to present successful efforts at cooperative regional problem-solving. Our goal was to support the exchange of concrete, useable information on methods that have been proven to work in complex settings. A further purpose was to help create and strengthen networks among leaders in different parts of northeastern Illinois who are addressing common aspects of managing growth. Mayor Roxanne Qualls of Cincinnati and William Dodge, Executive Director of the National Association of Regional Councils, provided broad perspectives on the possibilities and pitfalls in regional partnerships. Workshops on natural resource management, community development, watershed planning, and regional growth objectives provided participants with specifics on approaches that have worked. The fruits of the conference will become visible as new collaborative ventures go forward in northeastern Illinois.

The conference provided the occasion for unveiling NIPC's Internet website. At its new electronic address - http://www.nipc.org - the Commission will provide current information on major projects, products and services, and meeting and event announcements. Internet users will also be able to download forecasts and other demographic information.

June 1997

At its June quarterly meeting, the Commission adopted the Year 2000 Regional Greenways and Trails Implementation Program. The program envisions the continued development of a network of linear open spaces throughout the six-county metropolitan area. The proposed network includes the belts of existing open space along the region's major rivers, complex natural areas such as the new Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, natural corridors along smaller streams which may be protected in private ownership, and recreational trails along highway and railroad rights-of-way. The program is an update of the Northeastern Illinois Regional Greenways Plan, adopted in 1992. That plan was the first large-scale metropolitan greenway plan in the United States. The plan designated 1600 linear miles of greenways, of which 680 miles are currently under public ownership or protection. Seventeen percent of the new miles of trails proposed in the plan have been acquired or protected since 1992. The development of the program was another example of NIPC's collaborative approach to planning. The project was sponsored by the Illinois Prairie Trail Authority, which is itself a coalition of forest preserve and conservation districts in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties. The program was developed jointly with the Openlands Project, and was also funded in part by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Implementation of the program will require a partnership effort among state natural resource and transportation agencies, forest preserve and park districts, county and municipal governments, conservation and recreation advocacy organizations, and private landowners.

Back to the Beginning

NIPC Fiscal Year 1998 Annual Report

NIPC Fiscal Year 1999 Annual Report

Posted June 22, 1998