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OPEN SPACE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM By TedKavadas (Editors note: The last major assignment given Mr. Kavadas before his resignation with the Department of Conservation was to submit a program for direct state assistance to local government agencies for acquiring and developing more recreational facilities. He states that "all park, recreation and conservation officials in Illinois must join together.") Illinois is well known for her industrial might; her agricultural wealth; and her heritage of beautiful parks. Our state's local park agencies, forest and conservation districts are nationally known for providing open space, recreational facilities and esthetic natural areas for preservation. However, since the end of the Second World War our local agencies, whose main financial support is through local real estate and personal property taxes, have experienced increasing difficulty in acquiring new lands to serve present and future propulations. This problem has become even more critical by the rate of urbanization; land prices that are escalating; and the availability of open space to purchase near or in our prime metropolitan areas. Undoubtedly, a state financial assistance program is desperately needed to assist local agencies in acquiring new lands. This proposal would call for matching funds to stimulate local agencies in the massive acquisition program which must be achieved in the next two decades. Considering current levels of funds expended by local government, the acquisition of open space will not even be able to keep pace with the open space demands generated by population growth, let alone eliminate the glaring deficiencies apparent on a state wide basis. Utilizing national standards, there should be 70 acres of public open space per 1000 population. 40 acres should be in state ownership and 30 acres in local ownership. Applying this standard our local agencies presently have a land deficit of nearly 200,000 acres of open space. Further, by 1985 this deficit will increase by another 50,000 acres with the expected population increase. Unquestionably, an aggressive land acquisition program is needed on the local level if Illinois is ever to have adequate lands available for local parks and recreational areas. Illinois is well known nationally for its excellence in local parks. In the early 1920s, the State legislature created enabling legislation which has led to the formation of local park and conservation districts. This legislation has given Illinois perhaps the finest system of local and county parks that can be found in the United States. The Park District Code and the Conservation and Forest Preserve Acts are classroom models used by Universities throughout the country as perhaps the best system of providing parks, recreation and the conservation of natural resource for local citizens. The taxes authorized by statute to be levied by these agencies are extremely small compared to local taxes, and in most cases, a local referendum must be held for any substantial capitol development or land acquisition projects of a special district. These special districts do not receive any direct proceeds from the state income tax or the newly created federal revenue sharing program. Furthermore, the prime Federal program administered by the state to assist local government agencies has become grossly inadequate. The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation Land and Water Conservation funds have been oversubscribed by local agencies the past two years. For example, during this fiscal year the entire local share of the funds were exhausted within the first four months and an estimated four million dollars of local projects will have to be rejected during this fiscal year! An acreage standard for local governments has been established by the National Recreation and Park Association: Municipality or Park Districts 10 acres per 1000 County or Regional Districts 20 acres per 1000 Utilizing the newly created state planning regions, the following seven regions are shown with existing regional distribution of public recreational acres per 1000 population for local governments. Region (1A) NW Illinois
Population ........... 577,311
Region (1B) NW Illinois
Population ........... 948,507
Illinois Parks and Recreation 22 March/April, 1973 Region (2) NE Illinois (Incl. Cook Co.)
Population .......... 7,130,000
Region (3A) W Cent. Illinois
Population ........... 550,921
Region (3B) E Cent. Illinois
Population ........... 763,058
Region (4) SW Illinois
Population ........... 642,427
Region (5) SE Illinois
Population ........... 520,646
Total land deficit ........ 187,122 acres An acre per 1000 population guideline has been traditionally used in outdoor recreational planning. They have good historical reference and are a simple and dramatic way of measuring relative progress over a period of years. Also, the statistic is easy to obtain and useful for comparing one local with another. However, this standard does not recognize wide variations in both accessibility and suitability of lands. Therefore, this guideline must be used with caution and further research will be necessary to accurately determine the effective supply of outdoor recreational opportunities in any one given region or on a statewide basis. To meet the need of the 1985 estimated population projections it will be necessary to add 51,745 acres of land to the curent deficit to meet standards. It is recommended that a state program of financial assistance through matching funds be made available to local agencies. Major emphasis of this program will be to assist agencies in the acquisition of lands compatible with the policies as outlined in the official State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. Lands may be acquired under this program for such purposes as parks, natural and historic areas, forest, camping, fishing, water reservoirs, wildlife, hunting, boating and other acceptable recreational uses for the public and the conservation of natural resources. A lower priority of this program will be to offer in a limited respect matching funds to assist in the development of outdoor recreational areas. Presently the following states have programs to supplement existing federal programs in state assistance to local agencies; California, New Jersey, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Florida, Michigan. The Illinois Department of Conservation will be designated as the official state agency by which local governments may submit applications. The Department each fiscal year will request funds in its annual budget submitted to the General Assembly to fund the state open space assistance program. The Advisory Board of the Department will approve all project applications from local governments under general guidelines already established in the administration of existing Federal funds. Local project request will be limited to 50% of state matching funds. An additional 25% assistance in Federal funds may be approved for a project by the Advisory Board. No local agency may receive in one fiscal year more than 10% of the state funds allocated for this assistance program. Illinois Parks and Recreation 23 March/April, 1973 |
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