Green Infrastructure in the
Chicago Southland
Wednesday, March 31, 2011
The Chicago Wilderness
Sustainable Watershed Action Team
Deanna Glosser, Ph.D.
Environmental Planning Solutions, Inc.
217-629-8949, Deanna_Glosser@comcast.net
What is the Sustainable Watershed
Action Team (SWAT)?
 SWAT provides technical assistance
to local governments.
 The focus is on sustainability, the
protection of natural resources, green
infrastructure.
 Provides assistance to strengthen
planning infrastructure – comp plans
& ordinances.
 Provides design guidance.
 How & why was SWAT created?
Chicago Wilderness
Key Elements of SWAT
 Provides customized, hands-on
expertise for a project at the request
of a local government.
 Engages a private consultant with
the specific experience needed –
successful economically &
environmentally.
 Provides peer-to-peer assistance.
 All participants work partially probono.
 Engages community leaders &
appropriate stakeholders.
How SWAT Works
•Coordinates with Collaborators to select
projects
•Identifies appropriate experts
•Assembles project materials
SWAT
Collaborators
•Advise on project
selection & project
execution
SWAT
Experts
•Keeps abreast of potential projects – advises
the Director
•Works to encourage participation & project
success
•Work partially pro-bono
•Peer-to-peer experts
selected
SWAT Experts
• Applied Ecological Services –
Brodhead, Wisc. & West Dundee,
IL
• JF New, Crete, IL
• Conservation Design Forum,
Elmhurst
• JJR, Madison, Wisc.
• Cowhey Gudmundson Leder
SWAT Collaborators
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Campaign for Sensible Growth
The Conservation Foundation
IDNR’s C2000 program
McHenry County Conservation
District &Foundation
Metropolitan Planning Commission
NIPC/CMAP
Openlands Project
Soil & Water Conservation Districts
(Kane, Lake, McHenry)
USFWS
Comprehensive Plan–Village of Union
Village of Union, McHenry County -Population less than 1,000
-Has no planning staff
-Was at the developing fringe
-North Branch of the Kishwaukee
River is a sensitive natural resource
-Flooding & water quality problems
•Leveraged Village $ with SWAT
assistance to develop a comp plan.
•SWAT focused on stormwater
management, conservation design,
restoration, and use of native
landscaping. State-of-the-art
objectives were included in the final
plan.
•Union approved their plan and the
companion SWAT document in
November 2005.
Performance Standards–Aurora
Aurora’s Countryside
Vision
Immediate need for
annexation agreement
language to ensure that
final developments would
fulfill the vision.
SWAT developed language
for stormwater
management, use of
native landscaping, and
general review of the
preliminary plats.
Successful Effort – Trim Creek
Trim Creek, in Will &
Kankakee Counties, is a
tributary of the Kankakee
River.
SWAT assisted in developing
the watershed plan by
conducting the
environmental assessments
and making
recommendations for
restoration & protection.
Green Infrastructure
Individual Building
Lot Scale
Neighborhood Scale
Municipal or
County Scale
Regional or
Watershed Scale
Regional Scale
Chicago Wilderness
Green Infrastructure Visi
Dodge
Washington
Ozaukee
Muskegon
Chicago
Wilderness
Green
Infrastructure
Vision
Ottawa
Dane
Jefferson
Waukesha
Milwaukee
Racine
Rock
Walworth
Kenosha
Allegan
Lake Michigan
Winnebago
Boone
Mchenry
Ê
Lake
Van Buren
Ogle
Kane
Berrien
De Kalb
Ê
Du Page
Cook
Lee
SWAT is working
at this scale in
McHenry Co.
St Joseph
Kendall
La Porte
Bureau
Will
Porter
Lake
La Salle
Marshall
Grundy
Starke
Putnam
Kankakee
Pulaski
Marshall
Fulton
Jasper
Newton
Livingston
Iroquois
Ford
Woodford
White
Mclean
0
March 2004, J. Welch, RRPA_FINAL_Chicago
10
20
40 Miles
Cass
co
la
Municipal Scale
Village of Campton Hills
Green Infrastructure Map
•Comprehensive Plan is
now underway.
•Green Infrastructure is
the focus of the plan.
•All other plan elements
will be consistent with
protecting GI.
•CMAP has selected
Campton Hills for an LTA
grant so are assisting –
leveraging dollars.
Site Scale
Applicable to both new projects and
retrofits
Crystal Lake is requiring
infiltration BMPS in their most
sensitive sub-watersheds.
Bannockburn requires rain
gardens.
Municipal Projects-Permeable Pavement
Kane County Government Building
Bioswales
Natural
LandscapingCrate & Barrel
Corporate
Campus,
Northbrook, IL
For More Information
CMAP website maintains
information from SWAT
workshops & project results:
http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/sust
ainable-watershed-action-team
If interested in a SWAT project,
contact Deanna Glosser at
Deanna_Glosser@comcast.net