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Got Land? Get on the Land Link!
Networking opportunities for land development professionals are growing along with the readership of this newsletter. Many of you have responded to the newsletter with links to your websites that post land that you have for sale or lease. Many of you do business with each other and read this newsletter. We thought it would make sense to add value to this situation through the creation of a Land Link site on our website.
Here's how it can work: Email us the link to your website that posts your land information. We will post it on our website and have a link on our newsletter. This will allow buyers and sellers to review opportunities in one place and make contacts with each other. Each month you will get the newsletter, read all of the great articles, and click on the land link to check out new possibilities.
If you'd like to participate, please respond to this email with your link. |
 New Updates Forthcoming to the Illinois Urban Manual
The Illinois Urban Manual is the technical reference manual used by developers, planners, engineers, government officials and others involved in land use planning, building site development, and natural resource conservation in rural and urban communities and developing areas in Illinois.
The Illinois EPA identifies the Illinois Urban Manual (IUM) as the technical guidance document in it's NPDES permit. Additionally, the IUM is the technical reference manual used by the Chicago District of the US Army Corps of Engineers and many municipalities and counties within Illinois and throughout the United States.
Rapid development of new technologies and practices in urban ecological resource protection has provided a significant need to update the IUM. The most recent updates to the IUM took place in 2002 and since that time a series of efforts have been made from local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) to establish a partnership to keep the manual updated on a consistent basis. These efforts have led to a new procedure to update standards and resulted in a strong intergovernmental collaboration to maintain updates to the IUM.
The Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts (AISWCD), Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and US Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) are in the process of reviewing and signing an Interagency Cooperative Agreement (ICA) to provide resources and technical assistance to update the Illinois Urban Manual. The agencies will collaborate at an administrative level to ensure proper procedures are followed in the update process and to guide funding and resources for use in updating the manual.
The Illinois Urban Manual update process also includes a technical committee which will be responsible for prioritizing updates, working of draft standards, and providing technical input in the update process. The technical committee is made up of industry professionals throughout the private sector in addition to agency field staff. Jonathan Koepke, SESC Division Manager at ENCAP, is an active member of the technical committee, and ENCAP is very pleased to be able to provide their technical and practical expertise as part of the technical standard update process.
The technical committee is in the process of finalizing revisions of two existing standards and development of 6 additional best management practice standards. Each standard will be posted on the Chicago District of the USACE's webpage for public comment prior to finalizing each technical standard. In addition, an IEPA engineer will sign off on each technical standard prior to formal adoption into the Manual.
The current version of the Illinois Urban Manual is available on the USDA NRCS webpage at: http://www.il.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/engineer/urban/index.html .
The Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts will be taking ownership and control of the Illinois Urban Manual upon adoption of the ICA, with the manual being housed on the AISWCD website along with newly adopted standards. We will keep you updated as new standards are adopted and the Illinois Urban Manual update webpages are established. |
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Quarry Reclamation in LaSalle Illinois
Illinois Cement has created a new lake as part of their continuing quarry reclamation efforts. Eugene Hodges has headed up the project and recently gave Carl Peterson and Chip De'Angelo of ENCAP, Inc. a tour of the site.
In addition to the lake, the site currently contains preserved woodland, a tributary to the Little Vermillion River, and the main Channel of the Little Vermillion. 
Water levels have already reached the designed elevation and the lake has been stocked with fish. The lake is fed through a stone berm that allows water to seep in from a tributary to the Little Vermillion River. Overflow is slowly released into the main channel of the Little Vermillion. This provides the lake with a constant source of fresh water to sustain a healthy fish population. This also reduces flash flooding of the tributary and protects water quality of in the Little Vermilion.
Illinois Cement is working with ENCAP, Inc. to capture and temporarily detain the overflow in a created wetland area to enhance the habitat value of the project. If the project is completed, approximately 2 acres of wetland would exist between the lake and the Little Vermillion River.
Illinois Cement has a long history in LaSalle and we are glad to participate in their future plans. |
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New Assessments of the International Stormwater BMP Database
The ASCE/USEPA International Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) Database contains over 300 practices to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff. This represents substantial growth of the standardized BMP information contained in the database since the initial 71- BMPs were released to the stormwater management community in June 1999.
The significantly expanded database can be searched on-line or downloaded through the project web site at http://www.bmpdatabase.org . Recent analysis of new research regarding stormwater best management practices has evaluated the pollution removal efficiency and potential for the major categories of stormwater BMPs available for use.
Much of the research was developed around removal efficiency and percentages of removal of pollutants such as suspended and dissolved solids, nutrients such as Nitrogen and Phosphorous, and heavy metals. Each type of best management practice was evaluated to help develop more efficient and effective stormwater quality treatment systems of future practices.
The analysis of practices in the BMP database is a part of USEPA's push for greater attention on post-construction stormwater best management practices. Much of the pollution identification from various sources has identified urban stormwater runoff as the greatest land use source of water quality impairment.
Adoption and enforcement of the NPDES permit program in municipalities around urban and urbanizing centers has created a new focus around pollutant removal after construction is completed at a development project. While enforcement of regulations and utilization of BMP's during construction continues to be a focus of enforcement both on a local and national level, post-construction BMP evaluation is seen as the next big enforcement and adoption strategy by EPA to fulfill the goals of the Clean Water Act.
In addition to evaluation of post construction BMPs by the traditional method of percent of pollutants removed, EPA is also beginning to look to pollutant loading and overall pollutant discharge as methods to evaluate the function of post-construction BMPs.
By serving to treat stormwater pollution at its source and before the pollutants are concentrated in the storm sewer system, treatment trains and decentralized stormwater BMPs have been a new focus in site planning and development. Look for new research and information to come as this focus on post-construction BMPs serves to move to the forefront of stormwater pollution prevention and controls. |
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Ground Control to Major Dan...
ENCAP, Inc. was well represented this year at the 4th Annual Ground Control Conference hosted by Ero-Tex. Six ENCAP employees attended to hone their skills. The workshop focused on three tracks; Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans, Effective Stormwater Quality Treatment Trains, and Green Solutions.
The conference was loaded with practical tools needed for effective erosion control both during and after construction. With constantly changing technology and regulations, continuing education is of extreme importance.
The best thing about the conference was that the presentations were followed by installation demonstrations outside. Our consultants and contractors really got a chance to connect with each other regarding practical approaches to the design and implementation of these practices.
ENCAP, Inc. thanks Dan Salsinger of Ero-Tex for providing us with the materials and the know-how to effectively implement ground control practices in a professional and practical way. | |
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