 Kane County Hosts 41st Annual Planners Forum
West suburban planners gather to discuss emerging issues and recognize distinguished work
Last week Kane County hosted the 41st
 installment of the annual Planners Forum, held for the second year in a row at the Fisherman's Inn banquet hall. This year the forum adopted a new theme addressing the first in a series of topics focused on the notable "Corridors of Kane County." This year's topic was the Route 47 Corridor Plan and the planning efforts undertaken to date along this critical stretch of state highway.
John Houseal presented an overview of the Corridor Plan encompassing 15 municipalities across two counties. The plan, completed in 2010, is intended to assist communities along the corridor to better understand and address the planning challenges associated with growth, while encouraging a healthy population and economy. Each section of the plan identifies the planning challenges by category: Economic Development, Land Use, Regional Land Use Influences, Transportation and Active Living. The last section of the plan offers a Toolbox of programmatic and policy options for addressing the unique planning challenges throughout the corridor.
 This year's Forum also featured an interactive design workshop facilitated by professional illustrator and designer, Bruce Bondy. Bruce specializes in creating hand-drawn architectural renderings for planning and development clients. He also teaches drawing workshops for those interested in developing their rendering skills. Bruce led the Forum attendees in a series of sketching exercises to introduce some of the basic principles used to create architectural renderings.
Each year the Planners Forum recognizes a distinguished plan and practitioner for excellence in the planning field. This year the Village of Elburn's Comprehensive Plan received the 2015 Plan of the Year award and Elburn Village Administrator, Erin Willret, received the 2015 Planner of the Year award.
If you are interested in attending next year's event, being a host community, or have general questions about the Planners Forum, please contact Kane County Executive Planner, Karen Miller. Thanks to all those who supported and attended this year's event!
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Changes Coming in Kane County Recycling Program
A few area drop-off centers will be closing
Two of four permanent electronics recycling drop-offs will no longer be accepting items after Dec. 15, 2015. The two Kane County drop-offs that are closing are located at 200 N. Raddant Road, Batavia and at 1800 South St., Geneva, which have been operated under partnership between Kane County and the cities since 2011 and 2012 respectively.
Two permanent drop-off locations - in West Dundee and St. Charles - will remain open.
"Despite the poor condition of electronics recycling programs in the state of Illinois, Kane County will continue to work to maintain one of the most successful electronics recycling programs in the state," Jarland said. "Our main goal is to continue to offer electronics recycling opportunities to the residents of Kane County."
The West Dundee and St. Charles sites will continue during their regular hours, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, until further notice. The locations and phone numbers of the drop-off sites are:
- Charles Public Works, 1405 S. 7th Avenue, St. Charles, 630-377-4405
- West Dundee Public works, 900 Angle Tarn, West Dundee, 847-586-5605
Kane County's outdoor recycling event will continue to operate at the Traffic Court building at 540 S. Randall Road in St. Charles. The next event takes place from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 12, and that event will be the last until April 9, 2016.
The outdoor collection event will continue to serve Kane County residents from 8 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month, from April through November 2016. Please see the Kane County Recycles website or contact Recycling Coordinator, Jennifer Jarland, for more information. The complete article was originally posted in Kane County Connects.
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Sustainable Development Webinar
UN Sustainable Development Goals broken down for cities, companies and education sector
In this webinar, Alan AtKisson - initiator of the global "17Goals" initiative to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ( 17Goals.org), and a strategic advisor to the United Nations Secretariat - will provide guided tour of the SDGs with a focus on what they mean in practice for governments, cities, companies, and education. He will talk about how the SDGs are already having impact, as well as the kinds of impact they are expected to have over time. He will answer questions about the SDGs ... and even introduce you to a new music video he's created to help them reach a broader audience.
WHEN: Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:00 am PT / 2:00 pm ET
PRESENTER:
Alan AtKisson is a senior advisor, author, editor, and speaker in the field of sustainable development. He was inducted into the International Sustainability Hall of Fame in 2013 for his many contributions to the field, including widely used tools and methods for sustainability training, planning, and reporting; bestselling books (Believing Cassandra, Sustainability is for Everyone); training programs for sustainability change agents; as well as founding several businesses and non-profit initiatives, giving hundreds of speeches and seminars, and even writing songs on sustainability topics (he is also a professional singer/songwriter). Alan currently advises the United Nations on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and consults with other clients in the corporate, public, and civil society sectors, working from his home country of Sweden and traveling internationally.
The SDGs were adopted by all the world's governments at the UN on September 25, 2015. They take effect in 2016 and will guide global development for the next 15 years. Sign up for the webinar or click here to learn more about the UN SDGs.
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