Kane County committee adopts Housing Readiness Action Plan to help speed housing development

The Kane County Development Committee voted to adopt the county Housing Readiness Action Plan, a county‑led initiative developed with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) that lays out six strategies intended to remove barriers to housing development and prepare municipalities to receive new projects.

Todd Banadolak, a CMAP consultant, described the plan's six strategies: public education and outreach; zoning and design reforms (such as enabling missing‑middle housing and accessory dwelling units); streamlining development rules and permitting; pursuing funding and financing tools including CDFIs; coordinating land use, transportation and economic‑development decisions; and facilitating public‑private and multi‑jurisdictional partnerships. Banadolak said a one‑page housing‑readiness checklist is part of the plan to help municipalities measure progress.

Committee members asked about tools such as land banks and the plan's applicability to county‑owned sites. Banadolak said land banks can hold land to direct specific types of housing and that the plan includes resource links and examples of land‑bank models used elsewhere in Illinois. Several members described concern that commonly used definitions of "low" and "moderate" income do not reach essential local workers such as teachers, police officers and county employees, and stressed the need for tools that produce genuinely affordable entry‑level housing.

Staff and CMAP said the plan was developed with stakeholder engagement, developer panels, municipal input and a recent commenting period, and cited a recent call for projects on housing readiness limited to Kane and McHenry counties as evidence of municipal interest. The committee approved the resolution to adopt the plan by roll call.

What happens next: staff said they will bring draft implementation steps and suggested actions to future meetings and that some municipalities have already applied for funding through CMAP's call for housing‑readiness projects.