2023 Illinois Compiled Statutes › Chapter 20 - EXECUTIVE BRANCH › 20 ILCS 3988/ - Local Legacy Act.

(20 ILCS 3988/1)
Sec. 1. 
		Short title. 
		This Act may be cited as the Local Legacy
Act.
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04.)
(20 ILCS 3988/5)
Sec. 5. 
		Policy.
(a) Illinois has a rich natural and cultural heritage.  Whether
historic sites, natural areas, rich farmland, or other prized resources,
every county has treasures worth preserving for future generations.
(b) As counties and municipalities grow, they often do not have the
opportunity to consider which resources are most important to them.
Consequently, they may inadvertently imperil a historic structure, sever
a potential natural corridor, or fragment farmland into small and
unsustainable remnants.
(c) It is necessary and desirable to provide technical assistance and
funding in the form of grants to encourage partnerships between
counties and municipalities for the creation of an inventory of their
natural areas, farmland, and cultural assets and to develop a Resource
Protection Plan for protecting those areas.
(d) It is the purpose of this Act to promote voluntary county-municipal
partnerships in every county by the year 2020 that will
inventory resources, develop Resource Protection Plans, and implement
their respective plans.
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04.)
(20 ILCS 3988/10)
Sec. 10. 
		Definitions. 
		In this Act:
"Board" means the Local Legacy Board created under this Act.
"Committee" means a Local Steering Committee established under
this Act.
"Cultural resource" means a structure, building, district, or site that
has aesthetic, architectural, cultural, archeological, or historical
significance at the local, state, or national level.
"Farmland" means land devoted to agriculture or horticultural
uses for the production of food (including grains, fruits, vegetables,
dairy products, or mushrooms), fiber, floriculture, or forest products, or
the raising of farm animals (including livestock, sheep, swine,
horses, ponies, poultry, bees, or fish) or wildlife.
"Inventory" means a listing of a county's and its municipalities'
natural areas, farmland, and cultural resources.
"Natural area" means an area of land or water that either retains or
has recovered to a substantial degree its original natural or primeval
character, though it need not be completely undisturbed, or has floral,
faunal, ecological, geological, or archeological features of scientific,
educational, recreational, scenic, or aesthetic interest.
"Program" means the Local Legacy Program.
"Resource", unless otherwise specified, means farmland, a natural
area, or a cultural resource.
"Resource Protection Plan" means an integrated document that
includes goals, policies, strategies, and procedures for preserving key
farmland, natural areas, and cultural resources identified in a countywide
inventory and adopted as provided in Section 30 of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04.)
(20 ILCS 3988/15)
Sec. 15. The Local Legacy Board. The Local Legacy Board is
created to administer the Program under this Act.  The membership of
the Board shall be composed of the Director of
Natural Resources, the Director of Historic Preservation, and the
Director of Agriculture, or their respective designees.  The
Board must choose a Chairperson to serve for 2 years on a rotating
basis.  All members must be present for the Board to conduct official business.
The Departments must each furnish technical support to the
Board.
The Board has those powers necessary to carry out the purposes of
this Act, including, without limitation, the power to:
(1) employ agents and employees necessary to carry     out the purposes of this Act and fix their compensation, benefits, terms, and conditions of employment;
(2) adopt, alter and use a corporate seal;
(3) have an audit made of the accounts of any grantee     or any person or entity that receives funding under this Act;
(4) enforce the terms of any grant made under this     Act, whether in law or equity, or by any other legal means;
(5) prepare and submit a budget and request for     appropriations for the necessary and contingent operating expenses of the Board; and
(6) receive and accept, from any source, aid or     contributions of money, property, labor, or other items of value for furtherance of any of its purposes, subject to any conditions not inconsistent with this Act or with the laws of this State pertaining to those contributions, including, but not limited to, gifts, guarantees, or grants from any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States of America.
The Board may adopt any rules, regulations, guidelines, and
directives necessary to implement the Act, including guidelines for
designing inventories so that they will be compatible with each other.
The Board must submit a report to the General Assembly and the
Governor by January 1, 2005 and every 2 years thereafter regarding
progress made towards accomplishing the purposes of this Act, except that beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly, the Board shall submit a report only if significant progress has been made since the previous report.
(Source: P.A. 99-576, eff. 7-15-16.)
(20 ILCS 3988/20)
Sec. 20. 
		Local Legacy Program. 
		The Local Legacy Program is
created.  The Board shall determine the eligibility of county-municipal
partnerships for funding under the Program.  The purpose of the
Program is to provide grants to counties and municipalities to (i)
inventory their
natural areas, farmland, and cultural resources; and (ii) develop Resource
Protection
Plans.
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04.)
(20 ILCS 3988/25)
Sec. 25. 
		Local Steering Committee. 
		Counties interested in
assistance under this Act must form a steering committee consisting of
11 members in the following 3 categories chosen according to
the following requirements:
(1) Three members of the county board appointed by     the county board chairperson with the advice and consent of the county board.
(2) Three elected municipal officials chosen by the     corporate authorities of those municipalities participating in the county-municipal partnership.
(3) Five public members who reside within the county     and are appointed by a majority vote of the county board members and elected municipal officials on the Local Steering Committee, with one each representing the following categories:
(a) Agriculture.
(b) Environment.
(c) Historic preservation.
(d) Construction or development.
(e) Citizen-at-large.
When the Committee is first established, one-third of the members of
each category shall serve a term of one year; one-third shall serve a term
of 2 years; and one-third shall serve a term of 3 years, except for
the public members, one of whom will serve for one year, 2 of whom
shall serve for 2 years, and 2 of whom will serve for 3 years.  All
subsequent members shall serve for a term of 3 years.  A vacancy shall be
filled
in the same manner as an original appointment.
The Chairperson shall be chosen for a term of 2 years from
among the members of the Committee by a majority vote of the
Committee; all members of the Committee including the Chairperson
have a vote.
The Committee shall adopt its own rules of operation.
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04.)
(20 ILCS 3988/30)
Sec. 30. 
		Duties of the Local Steering Committee. 
		The Local
Steering Committee shall have the authority to apply for and receive
grants to conduct an inventory and develop a Resource Protection Plan
and to review all grant applications from units of local government
before they are submitted to the Board.
The Local Steering Committee shall develop a strategy for
conducting an inventory of natural areas, farmland, and cultural
resources. The Committee shall determine which resources should be
included in the inventory, the amount of financial and technical
assistance needed from the State, what information is already available,
who will conduct the inventory, how municipal and county efforts
should be coordinated, and how to present the information so that it is
compatible with inventories conducted by other county-municipal
partnerships.
The Committee shall use the inventory as the basis for developing
its Resource Protection Plan.  Working with a professional planner or
other resource specialist, the Committee shall develop criteria for
prioritizing resources identified by the inventory.  When prioritizing
resources, the Committee shall analyze the threat to the resources using
population projections, land use patterns, and development trends.  Upon
the approval of two-thirds of its members, with at least one member
from each of the 3 categories voting in approval, the Committee
shall recommend that the county board and the municipalities within the
county adopt the Resource Protection Plan.  Amendments to the
Resource Protection Plan must be approved in the same manner.  A local
government may object to all or part of the Resource Protection Plan in
writing.  If a written objection is filed with the Committee, the portion of
the Plan objected to shall not be effective within that local government's
borders.  The objecting local government may modify or withdraw its
objection at any time.
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04.)
(20 ILCS 3988/35)
Sec. 35. (Repealed).
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04. Repealed by P.A. 100-621, eff. 7-20-18.)
(20 ILCS 3988/40)
Sec. 40. 
		Consideration of State grant awards. 
		When approving grant
awards
under this Act, the Board or the State agency, as the case may be, shall give
preferential consideration to counties and
municipalities that have adopted Resource Protection Plans.
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04.)
(20 ILCS 3988/90)
Sec. 90. 
		(Amendatory provisions; text omitted).
(Source: P.A. 93-328, eff. 1-1-04; text omitted.)