R96-177 STATING SUPPORT FOR REGIONAL GREENWAY PLANNING

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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT M NO. 96-199 December 9, 1996 MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: James L.Williams,Jr., City Manager , Debora L. Bean,Acting Director of Community Development ' Robert A. McQueen, Senior Planner Douglas A. Ripley, Transportation Planner SUBJECT: Resolution of Support for Regional Greenway Plan Attached is a resolution of support for the Macon County Regional Greenway planning process. The resolution of support also provides for an in-kind donation of staff time to the planning process as part of the required grant match. Greenway Planning has been, for the most part, corridor and site specific in the past with much of the focus being on Lake Decatur and the Sangamon River corridor. Plans addressing the river corridor date back to the beginning of the century. The concept of a contiguous, regional greenway in Macon County is relatively new. In the near past, planning, and in many cases, implementation, has moved to the forefront. The development of a local environmental coalition called "Spiderweb" has championed the idea of greenway development along the Sangamon River below the Lake Decatur Dam. Since most of this area is publicly owned and full of natural assets and potential, emphasis has been placed in this small corridor. Many projects have already been completed, including almost four miles of bike trail, multiple river cleanups, and wetland development and restoration, while more are being planned. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is urging metropolitan areas to develop regional greenway plans. In support of this objective, they created a cost-share grant for urbanized areas to facilitate the planning process. The Decatur Park District, with concurrence of local agencies plans to seek the $25,000 grant to develop a Greenway Plan for Macon County. The two stipulations that the IDNR has made on the grant are: each affected agency must provide a resolution of support, local agencies must contribute to the planning process through a local match. The State has allowed the local match portion of the cost-share grant to be made by cash and/or in-kind services. The attached