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Logan County officials discuss
comprehensive plan
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[APRIL 8, 2005]
A new, updated
comprehensive plan is at the forefront of plans the Logan County
Regional Planning Commission is working on. During Wednesday
evening's meeting chairman Bill Glaze brought up one option in the
plans redevelopment.
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Glaze, county engineer Tom Hickman and
regional planning director Phil Mahler went to see McLean County
regional planner Paul Russell, who developed the McLean County
comprehensive plan. The McLean County has a staff of six that work
on GIS and the comprehensive plan. Russell had a lot of good advice
that will help get the job done and save some funds while doing it,
Glaze said.
Glaze thinks that it would be better to work with someone who
knows what he is doing. He said he asked Russell if he would be
willing to work with us. Russell is a practicing planner and
certified to do this work.
Russell made a proposal for the work
to be done. He would not just consult, he would be doing the work
too. His fee would be $65,000 and includes the following:
- Comprehensive plan.
- Help develop information.
- Schedule and attend meetings.
- Schedule and facilitate public hearing.
- Help develop the “Executive Summary” intended for developers
and marketing distribution.
- Print copy.
Hickman, who is working on the geographic information system for
the county, lent his support to Russell's proposal. "I think the
proposal is very reasonable,” Hickman said. “He's a professional and
it would be good with another government entity."
Whether Russell does the work or not, he recommends doing the
individual community plans for them, rather than on their own, as
well as the entire county plan. This would include Atlanta, Lincoln,
Mount Pulaski and Elkhart. The consolidated fashion would create
savings in everyone's funds.
Critical in the comprehensive plan is zoning and land use. The
USDA has a soil reclassification study in process that affects land
use. Indexes and ground slope factor into the reformulated
assessment equations. The soil reclassification will be used for the
land-use map and the land use fits into parcel mapping. That
information may be available this summer or fall. "It all ties
together," Hickman said.
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 Greenways will also be factored into the comprehensive plan, and
they are also influenced by the soil reclassification. Greenways are
property set aside for recreational purposes. This includes future
bicycle and walking trails. The counties north and south of us,
Sangamon and McLean, have would like to see us take advantage of
Illinois Department of Natural Resources funding intended for the
development of these trails. It would connect the counties.
There is a statewide initiative to run these trails from northern
Illinois to St. Louis along Route 66.
Funding is the main issue. Glaze, who serves as Mount Pulaski
mayor, said he has met with Mayors Beth Davis in Lincoln, Bill
Martin in Atlanta and Dayle Eldridge in Elkhart in regard to
funding.
Some contributions have been offered from private entities. The
amount of funds that will be sought from the cities and county needs
to be set.
To accept the proposal, "It must be decided and done in the right
way," Glaze said.
[Jan
Youngquist]
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