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FACT SHEET

PHASE II ILLINOIS TOMMOROW CORRIDOR PLANNING


GRANT FOR I-55 CORRIDOR PLANNING STUDY

Background
Madison County has received confirmation from the Illinois Department of
Transportation that the grant application for the Illinois Tomorrow Corridor Planning
Grant for the I-55 Corridor has been approved. The total grant request was for $150,000
with a $15,000 match expected from local government for a total of $165,000.
Edwardsville has provided $5000, Glen Carbon $5000 and Madison County would
provide $5000.

Madison County has previously agreed to be the lead agency for the grant process. The
grant is reimbursable. Invoices for consultant services will be provided to the Alliance for
approval first then forwarded to the County for payment of funds. The County will then
be reimbursed these funds from IDOT after submittal to IDOT and FHWA.

This is a Phase II extension of an earlier grant that was secured by the County and the
local governments to generally study the area east of Edwardsville and Glen Carbon,
which is located predominantly in Pin Oak Township.

The earlier Phase I grant developed a land use and growth/transportation plan and
resulted in a formalized adoption amendment to the County’s 2020 Land Use Plan.

This plan makes generalized recommendations for zoning, land use and other
development controls in order to promote orderly development along this corridor. The
Phase II process is expected to develop more specific mechanisms to adopt land use
controls, such as changes to our zoning and subdivision regulations and a review of
infrastructure needs, as well as look at green space, open space and other related
needs. Education has been agreed to be an important component.

The Alliance will serve as the coordinator/facilitator for the project and is anticipated to
actually conduct a portion of the analysis of economic development needs. Their fee is
expected to be $35,000.

Brief Description of Project:


The first phase of the I-55 Corridor Plan identified issues impacting the 55 Corridor
Study area, inventoried existing assets and constraints, and developed a dialogue with
key local elected officials, community and business leaders, citizens and other
stakeholders.

A vision was formed from these insights of what the community wants to see happen in
this high growth area over the next 15 to 20 years.

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Phase II of the I-55 Corridor Project will continue to build on the coalition with the
three governmental jurisdictions (Madison County, City of Edwardsville, Village of Glen
Carbon) working collectively to address growth-related issues that transect across the
corporate boundaries. Other critical local governmental partners will include
Edwardsville Township, Pin Oak Township and the Edwardsville and Triad School
Districts, which are impacted by the continued residential growth of the planning area.

The I-55 Corridor plan as developed focused on the following goals and principals:

1. More efficient use of land resources to minimize urban sprawl and promote and
encourage orderly and sound development to conserve and preserve land for
open space.

2. Provide for more efficient means of planning for shared and integrated
infrastructure and public services to reduce financial burden to the public and
private entities.

3. Provide for transportation options that take into consideration the capacity of the
existing roadway system and develop short-term and long-term plans to
interconnect new roads and explore alternative means of transportation to
reduce congestion.

4. Promote mixed-use development that takes into consideration which areas are
best suited for various types of commercial/business development and
connectivity to public facilities and transportation systems.

Proposed Scope of Work:


1) Development of Land Use Codes & Regulatory Measures

The major task to be undertaken in this component will be to review the current land
use codes for the County, Village and City. (i.e. zoning, subdivision codes, etc.). Then
an approval process will need to be developed for the City of Edwardsville, Village of
Glen Carbon and Madison County to assess the impact that the codes have on creating
the type of development and environment as envisioned in the adopted conceptual I-55
Corridor Plan. Recommendations need to be developed for revisions to existing
development codes, practices and policies that would serve to coordinate, promote and
direct smart growth and sustainable development, as well as considering measures for
low impact development to reduce stormwater runoff. Additionally, guiding principles
and procedures for review of major development projects that affect more than one
governmental jurisdiction need to be developed.

The overall objective is the development and adoption of uniform code standards that
would compliment, and be in conformance with, the growth management plan among
the three governmental entities that have land use approval authority within the
defined I-55 Corridor area.

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2) Design Standards & Guidelines

Related to the above, the Phase II consultant will create design guidelines to guide
future development within the I-55 Corridor area. The design guidelines would
incorporate graphic illustrations, as well as design principles intended to provide a
framework for the design of public and private initiated projects within the defined I-55
Corridor area. The purpose of these guidelines is to encourage quality sustainable
development, while simultaneously encouraging flexibility for positive design and
creative innovation. The overriding principle is to successfully integrate streets with
nearby land uses to enhance safety and promote community livability. The guidelines
are to specifically address how to upgrade streets with pedestrian-oriented amenities,
how to integrate bikeways into streets, and how to control site access along regional
arterials to improve safety, function, and appearance.

This phase of the planning project will also entail developing detailed conceptual site
plans that will serve to illustrate how the design guidelines, zoning and other pertinent
land use measures could be employed to influence site development decisions. In
addition, the resulting product is anticipated to contain an administrative review process
that would include a checklist that provides clear direction on the process of obtaining
approvals of developments in compliance with the Design Guidelines.

The end product would guide builders, developers, architects and property owners on
appropriate architectural detailing, massing, siting and related techniques to assure that
development relates contextually to existing neighborhood patterns and styles. The
resulting work is anticipated to include a detailed series of recommended techniques
and appropriate design methods, comprised of photographic and rendered examples, as
well as narrative descriptions of each and the basis for their recommendation.

3) Planning for Transportation and Infrastructure Development

The Phase I I-55 Corridor Plan, as approved, identified areas where major roads and
thoroughfares should be planned in order to accommodate the projected growth and
development within the corridor area.

Included on the conceptual land use plan is a proposed network of interconnected


roads including extensions to present local roads and those new roads that will be
required to be developed to accommodate the anticipated development within the
corridor area.

The consultant for Phase II will take into consideration the present alignment of roads,
as depicted on the conceptual plan, and work jointly with the PMT and appropriate local
governmental officials, to devise policies and strategies to preserve and protect the
right-of-ways for the proposed arterial and collector roadways.

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4) Development and Preservation of Open Space & Greenways

A major recommendation that was identified as a priority throughout the planning


process of the I-55 Corridor Plan was to “preserve significant areas and corridors of
open space to create a network of parks, trails, greenways, parkways and boulevards
around which development will occur.” The consultant will work to address the need to
maximize opportunities to integrate open space in major developments, as well as to
establish recommended guidelines and policies to encourage greenways along major
planned roads. A review of the present open space set aside requirements of each of
the three governmental entities will be initiated with recommendations to modify or
rewrite the requirements.

It should also be noted that the plan identified Silver Creek as the primary feature in
the I-55 study area, and a regionally significant riparian corridor, that should be
protected from encroaching development. Madison County Planning and Development
initiated a Silver Creek Parcel Analysis which was completed by Southwestern Illinois
Resource Conservation & Development, Inc., and entailed the development and analysis
of a comprehensive GIS-based database of physical and natural resources and created
a set of recommendations for potential protection and future consideration to establish
a regional open space park. It is anticipated the results of this study will become a
major part of the Phase II Open Space needs program.

It should also be noted that the City of Edwardsville is in the process of developing a
comprehensive parks and recreation plan for the community that will assess the present
park and open space facilities and resources available in the community and provide
recommendations for securing additional park and open space.

Approach:

The strategy for this project, as directed by the PMT, should include, but not be limited
to, the following:

• a strong emphasis on citizen participation, which brings together representatives


from a broad range of stakeholders and maintains an inclusive process through
community dialogue, consensus building and action;
• develop a strong working relationship and interaction with the Plan Management
Team (PMT), various Project Action Teams (PATs), key local governmental
officials and administrative staff and other key community and business leaders;
• analysis of existing land use and ownership patterns with an emphasis on
development opportunities within the I-55 Corridor planning area;
• analysis of existing development patterns and the development of recommended
modifications and refinements, where appropriate; a clearly defined plan of
action to accomplish the desired goals and objectives as outlined in the adopted
I-55 Corridor Plan

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