Land Use Planning

The Wingspread Accord

Wingspread Accord

The richness of southern Lake Michigan natural resources is vital to the Chicago region--in some ways it defines it. More than 1.6 million residents swim, fish, or boat along the coast each year. And, northwest Indiana can boast of nationally significant dune and swale wetland ecosystem fragments of extraordinary biodiversity. Accommodating the region’s projected growth while protecting its fragile natural resources presents an urgent challenge for government planners and decision makers.

There are other challenges. Lake Michigan provides a bountiful supply of drinking water for a large population, but right now this resource is being withdrawn to its legal limit. At the same time, many western suburbs in the Chicago area that depend on deep aquifers for their drinking water are using them at unsustainable rates. In the face of growing populations, how can municipalities ensure that there will be enough water for everyone?
  
Throughout the decade, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) has played a critical and strategic role in initiating and advancing water supply and natural resource planning discussions in the southern Lake Michigan region by engaging key players, as well as providing expertise and financial support.

Planning Across State Boundaries
In 2001, IISG funded a gathering of four regional planning agencies from Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin to discuss long-term planning in the southern Lake Michigan region. The agencies were the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (now the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning--CMAP), the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission and the Chicago Area Transportation Study.

In this retreat, Sea Grant’s Brian Miller identified water supplies and other coastal resources that could be impacted by future growth in the region. Miller also discussed the importance of incorporating natural resource protection into future regional plans, and emphasized the need to balance a finite water supply with future growth, especially given the depletion of deep water aquifers as a result of recent growth pressures. In the resulting historic Wingspread Tri-State Regional Accord, these agencies committed to work together across state boundaries to address natural resources, as well as economic and transportation issues.

By planning for the region as a whole, these agencies can work with local governments to develop comprehensive and consistent policies and programs that protect natural resources for the future. For example, with this accord, water supply planning can take place on a watershed or aquifer basis, which often extends beyond state boundaries. The result is a formal mechanism to facilitate collaboration between the states as they each develop better water resource management strategies to keep deep aquifer use at or below its sustainable yield, and to promote best management practices to reduce groundwater pollution risks.  

The accord has also led to a macro-level economic framework study of the larger tri-state region’s response to the flow of goods and services in the international marketplace. Michael Gallis (of Gallis and Associates), a leading expert in large-scale metropolitan regional development strategies and the keynote speaker for the Wingspread signing, directed this effort. This research was funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation and identified not only key issues of international economic competitiveness for the multi-state region, but will also illustrated transportation and other infrastructure facilities needed to support the identified economic opportunities.

Southern Lake Michigan Water Supply Consortium
From this agreement, the Southern Lake Michigan Water Supply Consortium was established to develop a formal policy structure that ensures a sustainable water supply for the region and an administrative structure that allows for the plan’s implementation.  This group, initially funded by IISG and then by the Joyce Foundation, consisted of 44 government, industry, and organizational representatives.  In 2005, the consortium conducted a two-day conference in Chicago where researchers, policy makers, and agency officials discussed science and policy steps towards a sustainable water supply in the Chicago metropolitan region. 

Illinois Water Supply Planning
The Chicago conference raised awareness and started a dialogue about the need for a sustainable water supply among high level policymakers. A governor’s executive order was issued in 2006 to develop a comprehensive, statewide water supply planning and management strategy in Illinois, with the Chicago region as a high priority.

Two years into Illinois’ water supply planning process, IISG, in partnership with CMAP, and University of Illinois Extension, is working to answer critical questions as efforts go forward. Through the expertise of a water resource economist, IISG is overseeing economic analysis to support the development and implementation of a sustainable water use and supply plan for the Chicago region. This specialist is examining the costs and benefits of the water supply planning process, including the cost-effectiveness of possible water conservation options, and is developing an optimal water pricing schedule for the region.

Growing Wingspread
In the meantime, the Wingspread Accord has played a pivotal role in regional planning and IISG has played a leading role in assisting the partnership, particularly with regard to natural resource issues.  In 2008, the planning agencies met to expand the geographic range of the accord (with the addition of a southwestern Michigan planning agency) as well as its vision. This group is planning to: create a multi-region, seven-generation plan; become a mega-green and mega-economic region; become the most efficient freight-, people-, and idea-moving region; and develop a self-sufficient energy infrastructure.

Planning agency directors continue to meet frequently to implement strategies to accomplish Wingspread goals and IISG continues to lend its expertise to the process.