I have been tossing around the idea of developing a Northwest Suburban Bike plan that would help link the developed village downtown districts along the Metra Northwest line. I’m still a few years off of my masters project, but I’ve decided to start gathering information and build a foundation for my future project.
The ultimate goal is Chicago to Barrington, safely and efficiently. Along with providing an overall framework so villages can make bicycle infrastructure choices so that they link up with other villages efforts. Spend the money in the right place and encourage suburban connectivity.
Northwest Municipal Conference Bike plan
Southwest Suburban Mayors and Managers Bicycle Plan
Guide of Municipal Bike Planning from League of Illinois Bicyclists
I was listening to the radio a few days ago to a news story about a Federal Judge ruling on a decision to allow a pipeline through a Native American Reservation. A group of Sioux tribes were trying to stop a TransCanada gas pipe line from going through their land. The Federal Judge ruled against the tribes allow construction of the pipeline to continue. A brief mention of the story can be found here from the Grand Forks Herald.
This sparked my interest in how widespread comprehensive land use planning is used among Native American Tribes on their reservation. Why?
Well, I’m not a land use lawyer, I’m a planning student, but in a Land Use Law course I took, we learned about the case of Arlington Heights, IL vs MHDC. The case said that Arlington Heights violated the Fair Housing Act because it would not allow an affordable housing unit to be built. Arlington Hts defended that that specific type of use was not allowed in that location because the zoning code which has been in place long before the act did not allow it. The MHDC cried exclusionary zoning, Arlington Height said that discrimination wasn’t the intent of their zoning code. The lower courts agreed with the affordable housing developer, but when sent to the Supreme Court, the ruling ended in favor for Arlington Hts.
This gave me the idea that Native American tribes could use comprehensive planning as a way to protect future land use on the reservation from Federal incursion or use. I don’t know how land use law effects Native American reservations, but the case of Arlington Hts leads me to believe that a solid comprehensive plan can defend even federal acts for influencing land use decisions.