FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2001                                                                                   

CONTACT: Kim Grimshaw Bolton
312-454-0401 ext. 707

CITIZENS DRIVE AGENDA FOR COMMON GROUND, SIX-COUNTY REGION’S NEXT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

(CHICAGO)…..When the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) hosts its Common Ground Regional Forum next month in Rosemont, people from all over the region--representing government, civic and community organizations, the media, and private citizens--will gather to agree on the agenda for the region’s next 30- to 50-year Comprehensive General Plan. Driving their deliberations will be the results of 12 public workshops held throughout the six-county area earlier this year. Indeed, it is this unprecedented emphasis on public participation and input that distinguishes NIPC's process.

At a news conference today, NIPC released “A Report on Subregional Workshops,” the analysis of the workshop series. It identifies 57 specific challenges for the region raised by participants. Falling into 11 categories, these challenges range from preserving open land to creating new jobs to developing affordable housing. While there was region-wide agreement on the challenges needing action, priorities differed dramatically from locality to locality. Such issues as the need for improved transportation and more effective intergovernmental cooperation ranked high in all geographic areas. 

Said Ronald L. Thomas, NIPC executive director, “With citizen participation as our foundation, we launched Common Ground in January with this series of workshops so that local voices could raise issues of local and regional concern. Now, we’ll use those results to form the core agenda for the Regional Forum, which will—for the first time--bring this many people together for an open dialogue on issues like transportation, economic development, and natural resources in a regional context.” 

The Regional Forum represents the second phase of Common Ground: A Blueprint for Regional Action. And, NIPC will again use cutting-edge technology to promote effective deliberation on a large scale. As was done in the subregional workshops, trained facilitators using group-ware computers will work with tables of ten participants, each equipped with electronic polling keypads. Ideas, comments, and priorities will be shared with the entire gathering quickly and efficiently.

All citizens of the region are invited to participate in the Regional Forum, including those who participated in the initial workshops. NIPC has organized an in-depth outreach initiative, funded by the Grand Victoria Foundation, to bring new and diverse voices to the regional dialogue, particularly youth, people of color, and others not previously engaged in regional activities. NIPC’s stated goal is to create a regional vision that reflects the widest possible representation of the area’s citizenry.

“By bringing northeastern Illinois together in a common vision for the next 30 years and beyond, Common Ground helps insure that the final plan will be successfully implemented,” said NIPC President Herbert T. Schumann, a Cook County Board commissioner. “This project carries out the legislative mandate for NIPC, created by the state legislature in 1957, to prepare comprehensive plans and policies to guide the development of northeastern Illinois.”

NIPC is also encouraging its many government, civic and community partners to become involved in Common Ground. Said Thomas, “There are a great many planning and visioning programs going on in the region, representing particular areas of interest. And, over the next few years, our partners will be developing some excellent work that will definitely inform and enhance the Common Ground process.”

The October 27 Forum will identify a set of regional issues for further discussion and action. These issues will be assigned to subject-specific workgroups, which will meet monthly to develop detailed planning goals. The workgroups, led by NIPC professionals and NIPC’s partners, will also be open to all and will include citizens, professional planners, and decision makers.  

The workgroups will produce planning goals, which will in turn be brought back to the entire region for further debate and validation in 2002. The resulting Regional Vision will provide the basis for detailed technical development of the Comprehensive Regional Plan, to be presented to the public for input in a series of additional forums in 2003, followed by public hearings and presentation of the plan in 2004.

Common Ground is designed as three-year initiative with major milestones along the way. Among these are specific planning goals, completed in the spring of 2002, which will be used for the 2030 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) being developed by NIPC’s transportation partners. The final Comprehensive General Plan, completed in 2004, will drive the mandatory update of the 2030 RTP, which will be completed in 2006.

“Last year, NIPC signed an interagency agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS), and the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) that is the foundation for successful implementation of Common Ground. It insures that transportation planning carried out by these signatory state agencies will follow the land use plan developed by NIPC’s civic-engagement-based regional plan,” said Schumann.

For more information about Common Ground: A Blueprint for Regional Action, visit NIPC’s Web site at http://www.nipc.org or contact Kim Grimshaw Bolton at 312-454-0400 ext. 707.