Public Meeting on April 12 for Alsip Community Planning Project

The Village of Alsip is creating a comprehensive plan that will guide its land use and other decisions for decades to come.  As part of that effort, the Village invites local residents, business owners, community leaders, and other stakeholders to attend a special community planning event.

To be held on Thursday, April 12, 2012, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Alsip Village Hall (4500 W. 123rd Street, Alsip, Illinois 60803), the session will feature a brainstorming exercise in which participants can state their preferences regarding issues they feel should be addressed in planning for the future of Alsip.  There will be Spanish translation services available at the meeting.

The Alsip comprehensive plan will contain policies and action steps to help elected and appointed officials plan for the sustainable growth of the community. The plan will address land use and development conditions, infrastructure improvements, and strategies for supporting key commercial and industrial areas in the Village.  A grant to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is enabling CMAP staff to provide technical assistance to Alsip, including help with public participation in the plan’s development. 

April 12 event lets residents have their say

To begin, the Village asks community members to answer the question: What issues do you think should be addressed in planning for the future of Alsip? The April 12 meeting is a chance for people to have their voices heard.  At this initial public meeting, residents can weigh in about issues they think the plan should address. Are there enough housing options in the community? How about transportation options? What issues do business owners face?  Are there sufficient parks and recreational amenities? 

For more information and to RSVP to this public event, please contact Jessica Simoncelli, Outreach Associate at CMAP (jsimoncelli@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8631).  Event registration begins at 6:30 p.m. 

In the project’s first phase, CMAP is working with the Village to conduct a detailed analysis of existing conditions to verify current land uses, to study community facilities, and to obtain initial public input regarding the issues and opportunities in the Village.  The second phase will be for the community to create a shared vision with specific goals and recommendations to help achieve the Alsip vision.  In the third phase, CMAP will assist in developing implementation strategies that the Village’s elected officials and various Village departments will use to put the plan’s recommendations into action.

HUD and CMAP build capacity for local planning

Especially in challenging economic times, many communities have difficulty allocating enough resources to plan as proactively as they would prefer.  At the same time, proactive planning is necessary for economic prosperity and protecting community assets.  The HUD-funded effort is helping fill this gap by making staff resources and grants available to assist with local planning projects that help to implement GO TO 2040, the first comprehensive plan for metropolitan Chicago in more than 100 years. 

The HUD grant to CMAP was announced one day after leaders of the seven-county region, on October 13, 2010, unanimously adopted GO TO 2040.  The region’s plan establishes coordinated strategies that help the region’s 284 communities address transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and other quality-of-life issues.  See www.cmap.illinois.gov for more information.

With the three-year $4.25 million HUD award (http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/press-release-10-14-10), CMAP has begun a new Local Technical Assistance program sponsored by HUD as part of the federal interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities. CMAP issued a call for projects in early 2011, prompting more than 220 proposals from over 130 municipalities, counties, interjurisdictional groups, and nongovernmental organizations – an indication of significant unmet demand for local planning capacity.  

In March 2011, CMAP began partnering with the first wave of 62 local governments, nonprofits, and intergovernmental organizations selected for assistance.  Like the Alsip effort, these projects address local issues at the intersection of transportation, land use, and housing, including the natural environment, economic growth, and community development.  Download a full list of projects at http://goo.gl/1nYBM.

CMAP is the official regional planning organization for the northeastern Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will.  

Media contact:  Justine Reisinger, 312-386-8802 or jreisinger@cmap.illinois.gov

Program contact:  Jessica Simoncelli, 312.386.8631 or jsimoncelli@cmap.illinois.gov