An advisory committee was formed to look into development of an open space plan. This committee developed the following goals for the open space plan:

• Become the community focal point for open space issues
• Work with the village on the comprehensive plan
• Establish adequate buffer zones for wetlands
• Establish bike/walking trails connecting different parts of the Township
• Promote conservation easements
• Identify funding opportunities
• Preserve and protect the quality of life and the character of Lemont

The means in which the acquisition of open land will further open space purposes are:

1. Land may be used to promote outdoor recreation opportunities such as parks, outdoor sport complexes, picnic areas and wildlife preservation.
2. Land may be used for soil conservation.
3. Land may be preserved to maintain flora, historical sites and wetlands.
4. Land may be used to create greenways, bike/hiking trails, and natural buffers.
5. Land may be used to retain rural quality of life.

One purpose of the Open Space Plan is to provide protection for sensitive areas within the Township’s boundaries. This plan addresses and defines several of these areas including:

Wetlands, Streams and Buffers
Historical Resources
Wildlife Corridors/Greenways
Soil Conservation

By fostering an understanding of the environmental importance of these open space features, future protection and incorporation into the built environment can be more readily understood and facilitated. This section describes some of the economic and environmental benefits these features provide.

Streams provide a number of important benefits including recreation, storm water management, and wildlife preservation. Streams and their buffers are home to countless species of plants and animals. The floodplains, wetlands, and wooded slopes along streams are important parts of the stream ecosystem, and in many ways determine the diversity and health of a stream.

As development activity becomes more intense and consumes larger amounts of land, forests and natural vegetation along streams are diminished. The cumulative loss of large amounts of open space and natural land reduces the ability of remaining land along streams to buffer the effects of such intrusions as high stream flow, pollution and flooding.

Buffers are a critical "best management technique" that reduces sediment, nitrogen, phosphorous, and other runoff pollutants by acting as a filter, thus minimizing damage to the streams by improving water quality. The effectiveness of buffers depends on their width (which should not take into account such factors as steep side slopes, soil erosion, and wetlands), the type of vegetation within the buffer (some plants are more effective at nutrient uptake than others), and maintenance of the buffer (natural vegetation is preferable).

Historical reasons for floodplain protection have been to guard against injury to people and to prevent destruction of property. In the context of this plan, relatively undisturbed floodplains serve a variety of additional functions having important public purposes and benefits.

Floodplains are the product of natural occurrences and serve to moderate and store floodwaters, absorb wave energies, and reduce erosion and sedimentation. Wetlands found within floodplains help maintain water quality, recharge groundwater, and provide habitat and natural corridors for wildlife. Stream buffers found within floodplains also help to maintain water quality.

Safeguarding the many natural functions performed by floodplains benefits the Village and downstream communities by minimizing the risks (and costs) associated with the loss of life and property; by contributing to the maintenance of water quality which may directly affect drinking water supplies and recreation opportunities.

In the past, connections for wildlife were everywhere in nature, for human settlements were small, and their technology did little to impede the movement of wildlife. Today, however, population growth, urban expansion, and the construction of vast highway networks, among other factors, have probably done more to interrupt wildlife migration patterns than all previous human development.

There are significant opportunities to improve our current situation. Increased awareness and scientific knowledge has taught us to move beyond the simplistic notion of preserving nature in parks and isolated refuges, and to seize strategic opportunities to connect these disjoint parcels. The preservation and creation of wildlife corridors can enhance the biodiversity of metropolitan areas.

The identification and connection of greenway trails and corridors is a element of the plan. Greenways offer a way to preserve natural habitat corridors and to promote plant and animal species diversity. A greenway can also serve as a critical filtering zone; its wetlands can absorb contaminants in surface runoff, and trees, shrubs, and cover vegetation along the corridor can cleanse and replenish the air.

In an increasing urban nation, greenways provide much-needed space for outdoor recreation and offer accessible alternatives to those who do not live near traditional parks. A greenway is ideally suited to such popular outdoor activities as jogging, walking, biking, fishing, and canoeing. Greenways can provide safe, alternative, non-motorized transportation routes for commuters going to work and children traveling to and from school.

Greenways offer ideal possibilities for joint-use partnerships along corridors with sewer, water, storm, utility, fiber-optic lines or railroad interests. Greenways can help preserve the rural character of a community to safeguard areas of visual interest by protecting the ridgelines, river lines, river corridors, and scenic vistas. In rapidly urbanizing areas, a greenway offers visual relief; its wooded breaks can frame and distinguish neighborhoods in an otherwise undifferentiated urban sprawl. In the countryside, greenways can work with programs that preserve farmland and expanses of scenic open space. Greenways can also act as natural, beautiful, buffers and transition areas to permit diverse community elements to coexist.

Greenways are community amenities with an economic value. They enhance the quality of life and can increase the value of surrounding properties. Greenways have been shown to draw tourists and have been the catalyst behind new commercial development and the revitalization of former town centers. Greenways planned as elements of subdivisions can benefit homebuyers and developers alike.

The Village of Lemont’s comprehensive plan has a greenway element that this open space plan builds upon.

Soils have varying degrees of erosion and all soils are subject to movement that increases as the side slope of the land increases. Control of the erosion potential is usually achieved in the context of slope regulation, where environmental protection is focused on those areas where soil movement is most likely to be a problem; on steep slopes.

There are multiple means for protecting steep slopes. Preservation of steep slopes adjacent to watercourses is especially important because of the potential harm to water quality and aquatic habitat. Communities must pay the economic costs associated with the loss of water quality, as well as hazards such as flooding and landslides and other problems caused by disturbances to slopes. The identification and protection of slopes within a community helps to protect the community, and downstream communities, from these hazards. Protection also provides aesthetically pleasing open space and maintains local biodiversity.

The Village of Lemont's new Comprehensive Plan currently being reviewed outlines a framework for future growth and development. One of the key features of the plan will be population density and open space preservation. Subdivision design is the most important tool available to the community for the protection of open space and the development of a connected greenway system. This plan calls for the following elements to be incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan:

• Encourage creative design through the incorporation of environmental and open space features into future subdivision developments.
• Develop open space connections through and between developments.
• Establish development parameters that address the protection of open space.
• Design developments with a strong pedestrian and bicycle focus.
• Use developer incentives to achieve high levels of environmental protection.
• Use relaxed yard setbacks to permit a structure to locate outside of a stream buffer or away from steep slopes.
• Use cluster development of density zoning to avoid development on the portion of a site that include a sensitive area, while maximizing the zoning potential of the property by building on the remaining parts of the site.
• Use flexible bulk standards, innovative design, larger community open spaces, creative storm water management techniques, pond and tree plantings to minimize environmental impacts and enhance the environment.
• Protection measures should focus on flexible and innovative regulations that affect the physical form, design, and layout of development on a site so as to increase opportunities for protection.
• Adopt flexible development regulations and innovative tools that will protect sensitive areas through the use of a streamlined, flexible and innovative development regulations.

The Township will not use condemnation as a means to acquire open space under this plan. The use of land donations, conservation easements, federal and state funding and land trusts will be used in addition to the bond issue.

The Township will work with the Village of Lemont, Lemont Park District, County of Cook, State of Illinois, United States Federal Government, non-profit land preservation groups and other agencies in acquiring open space in Lemont Township. The goal of this work is to meet or exceed the dollar amount raised through taxes to further the purpose of the open space plan.

Standards and procedures for establishing priorities for the acquisition of parcels identified in the plan are:

1. Large tracts of land are preferred except where smaller pieces connect to make a comprehensive larger land site.
2. An independent licensed appraiser will establish value of the property.
3. An advisory board consisting of no more than five residents will be formed. The Township Board will appoint the advisory board.
4. No land will be purchased from any elected Lemont Township Official. Parcels to be purchased will be made public prior to purchase.