County Committees: Environment

County Committees: Environment

I'm continuing to summarize the work of the County Board via the various committees on which board members serve. This week's entry is the Environment Committee. As you will see, it has many responsibilities for overseeing various aspects of the County's operation.

Environment Committee

This Committee shall:

1. Exercise general supervision over the Zoning and Mapping and Platting Departments.
2. Review the budget transfers of the Department managers.
3. Approve all subdivision plots, planned unit developments, zoning permits, zoning variances and zoning amendments.
4. Prepare and recommend a mobile home code, flood plain code, fire code, building code, subdivision code, nuisance code, health code and to review them annually for necessary revisions.
5. Act as a liaison between the Board and to cooperate with the Zoning Board of Appeals, Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and all municipal planning commissions and zoning boards to provide long range planning for land use and to protect the environment.
6. Review status changes in the Zoning and Mapping and Platting Departments.
7. Review the enforcement procedures of the County, relative to all County environmental codes.

The Environment Committee has quite a large scope of responsibility as seen above. County Code section 32-2-1 establishes the Committee and its mission -- to enforce the Sanitary Landfill Code "and all amendments and regulations" adopted by the County Board. The County Board is required by Code to appropriate funds for the duties of the committee and all records of the Environment Committee will be public record.

The Zoning Department of the County (or specifically, the Zoning Department Manager) is responsible for "the processing of all zoning compliance permits, publication of all public hearing notices, and those duties outlined in the Property Maintenance, Subdivision, Zoning, Building, Flood Plain and Swimming Pool Codes of St. Clair County."

The Mapping and Platting Department Manager is responsible for "the supervision of all employees in this department; maintain accurate property records for St. Clair County; report to the Environment Committee; work with all firms hired by the County to provide service to the property records or taxation area; recommend any improvements that should be made in the department."

While the approval of "subdivision plots, planned unit developments, zoning permits, zoning variances and zoning amendments" appears to be very detailed work, it is important that the residents and voters of the county are represented when these changes are proposed. While much development is welcomed and needed for the growth of the county, residents' inputs on possible negative impacts should be relayed to their county board members for inclusion in the decision process.

The Committee is responsible for creating and annual review of "a mobile home code, flood plain code, fire code, building code, subdivision code, nuisance code, [and] health code." I could not find any "mobile home code" on the County's website, though the Taxation code Article IV defines "mobile home", "mobile home park" and establishes a tax scheme for such structures. The Property Maintenance code Article VII establishes Fire Safety Requirements and aspects of fire safety, but I could not find any reference to a "fire code" per se.

Another responsibility of the Environment Committee is to "Act as a liaison between the Board and to cooperate with the Zoning Board of Appeals, Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and all municipal planning commissions and zoning boards to provide long range planning for land use and to protect the environment." The Zoning Board of Appeals is established in the Zoning Code, Section 40-4-133. The Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan Area Planning Commission was created by Illinois Statute - the Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan and Regional Planning Act (70 ILCS 1710) to provide for planning of development within the region defined by the statute.

The last two responsibilities are to review the departments specified and the enforcement of environmental codes.

As you see, the members of the County Board on the Environmental Committee have influence over quite a lot of the County's business, especially the development of land via Zoning and long-range planning. As a county board member, I would be eager to represent the residents of District 2 in any development or zoning issue which would be addressed by the Environmental Committee. Where there might be conflicts between residents in regards to a zoning issue, I would advocate for the long-term benefit of the county over the short-term benefit to a person or a company.