Orland Park Continues Work on Water Conservation Project

The Village of Orland Park is continuing to advance environmentally sustainable practices and initiatives, this time with a project to emphasize water conservation and efficiency through Orland Park’s codes and programs. Following the Village’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Municipal Action Plan (ECOMAP), which identifies water conservation as a key goal, Orland Park has partnered with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s Local Technical Assistance (LTA) program to tailor the 2010 CMAP Model Water Use Conservation Ordinance and recommendations from the Water 2050 and GO TO 2040 plans to emphasize water conservation and efficiency through Orland Park's ordinance and activities. The new water conservation code will recommend ordinance language for increased water conservation practices in a unified Water Resources Chapter for Land Development Code.  The recommendation will then be presented to the Village Board for consideration.

View Proposed Recommendations on March 21 

This month, staff from the Village of Orland Park and CMAP will share draft recommendations for public review. The Village is inviting local residents, business owners, community leaders, and other stakeholders to attend.

This public meeting will be held Wednesday, March 21, 2012, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Orland Park Public Library, 14921 Ravinia Avenue. The meeting will feature a brief overview of the project and existing conditions.  It will largely focus on the proposed recommendations, including updates to ordinance language and how to create new programs to increase water conservation.

For more information and to RSVP to this public event, please contact Nora Beck, CMAP Associate Planner (nbeck@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-676-7470) or visit www.cmap.illinois.gov/orland-park.

On February 22, 2012, residents and business owners participated in a public meeting to learn more about the project. Paul Grimes, Village Manager, set the stage for why Orland Park is focused on this project. Mr. Grimes stressed the importance of the project as the Village reviews its future investment in water infrastructure.  Using water conservation measures, the Village wishes to maximize existing infrastructure while providing the best service to all sectors in the community. Hala Ahmed, CMAP Senior Project Manager, discussed the need for water conservation in the Chicago region. While northeastern Illinois is fortunate to have access to Lake Michigan water, a U.S. Supreme Court Consent Decree limits the amount of water the state can divert from Lake Michigan.  While the region is currently meeting the terms of the allocated use of Lake Michigan, the projected population growth might elevate demand for water and place it closer to the set limits.  Therefore, it is prudent to consider water use conservation as a principal measure to insure sustainable future water supplies.  

Attendees also learned how much water is currently being used in the village. The average per capita water use in Orland Park is approximately 95 gallons of water per day, 2,850 gallons per month, and 34,675 gallons per year, according to a 2009 study by Southern Illinois University completed as part of the Water 2050 plan. For the entire northeastern Illinois region, the average per capita water use ranges between 70 to 80 gallons of water each day. The difference can be attributed to a number of factors, including larger landscaped areas and additional number of bathrooms per household.  More recent data from Orland Park water billing shows that average household water consumption per month is 6,150 gallons approximately.

A large portion of the February meeting was focused on answering questions from the public and noting resident concerns.  One of the main questions was who would be affected by new ordinance language. CMAP’s Hala Ahmed and Nectarios Pittos, Village Planner, explained that the recommended ordinance language would focus on new development to increase water conservation practices in newly constructed buildings. Additional proposals could increase water conservation practices in existing buildings and businesses through participation in various village programs. Several questions focused on landscape irrigation.  The use of native and low-water-using plantings is among the various options available for property owners to reduce costs of landscape maintenance.

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.  Through a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), CMAP 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 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, CMAP began partnering with 62 local governments, nonprofits, and intergovernmental organizations selected for assistance.  Like the Village of Lakemoor 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

Project contact:  Hala Ahmed, 312-386-8800 or hahmed@cmap.illinois.gov