University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The following information looks at land suitablity assessments in relation to the three alternative land uses ( urban housing, athletic facility, flood control open space) in the East Saint Louis Area.

LAND SUITABILITY ASSESSMENT

In determining the suitability of the three proposed land uses of a housing project, recreational park and open space/flood zone for our study site in East St. Louis it is necessary to combine the findings from all of our assessments.

The flood zone proposal has a long term positive impact on the environment for vegetation and biological diversity, it improves air, water and noise control quality. The flood zone area would increase property value by improving infrastructure through flood control measures. It would enhance the communities image by providing a scarce recreational opportunity area within the city proper, which would also serve as a landmark for the surrounding community as a natural area. This proposal appears to be free of negative impacts.

The study site as a recreational facility landuse would provide all of the qualities stated for the flood zone proposal, however the overall impact would be somewhat diminished. The daily use by people would require more maintenance to the land, however it would continue to provide an area that protects the communities homes from seasonal flooding. It would still prove to be adequate for naturalized vegetation and an area for wildlife to inhabit.

For the public housing alternative the qualities mentioned for the flood zone and recreational facility landuse would not apply since the naturalness of the landscape is changed by the construction of houses. The impacts of a housing project creates negative impacts for the environment. The problem of flooding may be exberated by this development. The potential for native vegetation and wildlife would be very minimal when compared to the other two proposals. There would be a decline in the air, water and noise control quality due to the increase of 300+ people occupying the area. The housing project can potentially strain the existing infrastructure of the city . It would also put an additional strain on the existing community/social structure, the police force, educational facilities and transportation services.

From the economic evaluation, looking at the final calculation of overall net benefits and discounting we derive a cost/benefit ratio for each landuse.

Here are the rankings:

From the cultural/historical evaluation we find that the recreation facility and flood zone landuses rate significantly higher that the housing project with regard to the cultural and sociological implications, benefits and impacts created by each landuse proposal.

For the ecological and visual assessments the flood zone ranks the highest with the recreational facility second and the housing project ranking third. Check out the link to Ecosystem Partnership. With this study site strategically located as a connecting corridor from north to south to the larger state park in the area it would be important for the people of East St. Louis to form a coalition of interested citizens to improve and protect the natural resource areas within their community. With the development of a protected wetland parcel and possible inclusion in the national wetland bank the flood zone or recreational proposal could potentially be a long term valuable asset to the neighboring community as well as the state of Illinois.

Land Suitablity Maps

A look at the map, with boundaries drawn for reference, helps to understand the importance of this unique location and why we advocate that it remain as a floodzone. For a more detailed look at the study area see the map below.

The purpose of creating a land suitability map is to compare the findings of the GIS map to the surrounding areas to see if the selected parameters of suitability help to locate similar land types, making it easier to locate parcels of land that are like the study site. In the two maps above, the areas marked in light green represent open spaces that might be suitable for similar treatments as the study site.

Archeological sites:

This GIS map was created to display the locations of cultural significance surrounding the study site. As displayed in blue, the entire city is considered to be of cultural significance. The locations of the Cahokia Mounds State Park and the Holten State Park are displayed to show how the study site is strategically located between the two areas.

Other links:

• Sustainable development
• Sustainable Communities
• Landuse information center
• Presidents Council on Sustainable Development
• Land Suitability

ALTERNATIVE LAND USES FOR URBAN FLOODPLAIN AREAS

Document author(s) : Mark, Avinash, Jean, Nandita
HTML by : Avinash
Last modified: November 27, 1996

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