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The commission was awarded a grant by the
Illinois Department of Transportation to cover the costs of
developing a plan. Last month the commission heard from three
interested engineering companies. Farnsworth Group has been chosen
as the consultant to get the project started.
Farnsworth divided the county plan
into phases.
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Phase one would
involve meeting with representatives of the towns in Logan
County to gather data on past planning efforts.
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Phase two would
involve aerial photography to identify areas suitable for
creating a bike trail.
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Phase three would
be the creation of an actual plan for bike trails. As of now,
preliminary ideas involve branching off from Route 66, breaking
into open space areas and connecting various communities within
the county. There was also brief mention of building gateways
and rest stops along the trails.
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Phase four would see the beginning of
land acquisition and the generation of cost estimates. This
phase would also identify any legal issues concerning the land
that may be in question. The final phase would be presentation
to the county board.
Copies of a contract drafted by Farnsworth were handed out to the
board members. D'Andrea mentioned that the board may wish to hold
off on taking action, as the contract may need adjustments. Bill
Martin expressed a desire for several copies of the final contract.
Commission chairman Bill Graff asked that a digital copy be made
available to the public and placed on the GIS website. He suggested
that copies also be provided to post in public libraries and in
Lincoln's City Hall.
Farnsworth would like to begin in mid-August and continue work
through the end of the year.
A piece of old business that ties into the bicycle trail planning
was discussed. The commission has an audit coming up. This will be
the third year the commission is audited. The audits were planned in
case future grants are offered for more bike trails.
"If we happen to fall into another grant to do a bike trail, and
a lot of those require three years of auditing, we'll have our three
years done," said Graff.
During new business, a discussion on the Lincoln and Logan County
Comprehensive Plan was brought forward. D'Andrea indicated that it
is time for the plan to be examined for potential revision.
"It's time for a review of that (the comprehensive plan)," said
Martin.
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 A primary concern is to ensure that the comprehensive plan
developed in 2006 does not conflict with the master plan more
recently developed in 2011 under the Lincoln & Logan County
Development Partnership. The planning commission also wants to
ensure that the comprehensive plan does not conflict with plans from
the towns in Logan County.
"We're not trying to take any jurisdiction away from anybody,"
said Graff. "I look at us as a resource. If somebody has a question,
we've got somebody who can find the answer."
Copies of the comprehensive plan will be brought to the next
meeting for the planning commission to begin reading over.
Those present at the meeting were Bill Graff, Jim Fuhrer, Dean
Sasse, Gerald Lolling, Bill Martin, Jeff Hoinacki, Blair Hoerbert,
Derrick Crane and Will D'Andrea.
[By DEREK HURLEY]
Links to Logan County's Comprehensive Plan "Acres of
Opportunity," Greenways Plan, GIS and more can be found on the
sidebar for the Logan County Zoning Office.
http://www.co.logan.il.us/zoning/.
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