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The Logan County Regional Planning Commission was established by
ordinance of the Logan County Board in the late 1960s. The
commission's board is all volunteer, but it has one salaried
employee to carry out directives and who manages the enterprise
zone. It is funded by participating municipalities and is a
stand-alone entity with its own tax ID.
Due to changing times and technology advancements, such as the
geographic information system, the county's planning and zoning
needs have gradually changed.
Also, the city of Lincoln reduced its annual commitment from
$17,500 to $10,000.
The primary expense in the budget has been the director's salary.
Planning director Phil Mahler was given 30-days' notice on Wednesday
afternoon that his position is being eliminated. Mahler's primary
work has been managing the enterprise zone.
The budget also includes some operational and functional costs.
Martin said that he would be meeting with various people
including county board chairman Terry Carlton, finance chairman
Chuck Ruben, county highway engineer Bret Aukamp, who is currently
directing the GIS work, and others to try to figure out what is best
at this time.
"We may dissolve this and then put it back together. What I'd
really like to see is us lose our independent identity," Martin
said.
By reorganizing under the county, the planning commission could
then come under the county's insurance and that would benefit the
salaried employee, Martin said. The commission's budget would then
be incorporated into the county budget, and this would provide a
bookkeeping benefit as well. If reorganized, the commission may even
get a new name more reflective of its changes, Martin thought.
Other discussion of the evening revolved around GIS-related
topics.
County engineer Bret Aukamp reported that there is a movement by
McLean Tri-County Regional Planning to have new aerial photography
conducted. McLean is looking to surrounding counties to band
together for the project in hopes of getting better pricing for the
work. Municipalities would be contacted as well and offered to
upgrade their photos to 6-foot-per-inch pixel size. The project
would take place in 2011.
Logan County had its current aerial photography performed in
2004, which was then parcel-mapped and prepared for the base layer
of the county's GIS.
While there are aerial photos on the Web that are available to
anyone, Aukamp said that he gets calls from developers who are
willing to purchase the better photos that he has. They ask for
aerial first, then the parcel mapping with its parcel lines, and
lastly, contour maps.
Martin commented that when Lexington was preparing to put in a
new sewer system, photos taken there with topography cost $40,000.
The costs were recouped in savings as engineers were able to design
the whole system without even setting foot on the ground.
Aukamp said that the Illinois Department of Transportation has
begun taking the more expensive aerial photos of some counties,
which would provide topography. He felt that eventually this would
be done in the entire state, and it might be worth waiting for the
state on that.
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In the meantime, pooling resources with IDOT, the U.S. Geological
Survey and other counties may be a great opportunity, Aukamp said.
Zoning officer Will D'Andrea is currently working with Illinois
State University on getting the county's zoning map overlay prepared
for GIS application. D'Andrea explained in an early meeting with the
county board's planning and zoning committee that he has encountered
a number of errors between maps and documentation. Corrections are
being made, but it will be a slow process.
On another matter, Martin explained that there may be a change in
the enterprise zone.
The Lincoln Community High School board recently voted to
step-down their participation in the Lincoln and Logan County
Enterprise Zone. Rather than relieving 100 percent of the property
tax increase they would receive on a new development in the first
five years and 50 percent the second five years, they would allow 50
percent abatement in both the first and second five-year increments.
"While we don't necessarily like to see that, we're trying to be
somewhat understanding of their position at this time. We'll
probably have more conversations with them on that in the future,"
Martin said.
Details of how and when this would begin are being looked into.
Present for Wednesday evening's meeting were Martin, Lincoln
Mayor Keith Snyder, Gerald Lolling, Dean Sasse, Dave Hepler, Bill
Graff, Mount Pulaski Mayor Jim Fuhrer, Derrick Crane and visitor
Gene Rohlfs.
[By
JAN YOUNGQUIST]
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