AT&T rain garden:  Danville is making lemons out of lemonade with the former AT&T site next to City Hall.  After taking over the site from an property owner who let a landmark building fall apart, the City had no choice but to demolish the building.  Rather than making yet another parking lot, Danville used it's internal professional staff to create the communitys' first rain garden.  Staff re-routed storm sewers to the lot and it now captures all of the Vermilion Street building roof runoff from North Street to the Kresgee lot.  This rain garden will clean the water and slow it's entry into the watershed improving water quality and reducing stream erosion.  Native plantings were selected to attract birds and butterflies.

Jackson Street - DHS Campus Project:  This complete streets project with elements designed by our citizens incorporates pedestrians, public transportation, bicyclists, and water quality features.  The City applied for a State EPA grant to design and reconstruct a portion of the DHS campus to improve water quality in a functional manner that will also provide event overflow parking and improve campus safety.  This unique project will serve as a great educational opportunity for the school and community.  For more information, see the Jackson / DHS project page.

Hazel Street Pedestrian Improvement:  This controversial project was constructed in 2010, designed by City staff as our first complete streets project.  It has had overwhelming support since completion, culminating in a State of Illinois American Public Works Association Project of the Year Award.   Concepts created by the downtown businesses in the early 2000's were incorporated into this project.  It created ADA sidewalks connecting the Towne Centre shopping mall to retirement homes and public housing.  The street width was reduced to create landscaped areas to provide water quality treatment and to slow vehicular speeds through traffic calming.  See our Hazel Street project page for photos and information. 

Danville is unique in the east central Illinois area with a rolling topography that creates natural recreational opportunities and wildlife habitats.  For decades, Danville has been an attraction for the Chicago elite looking for vacation properties to take advantage of this beautiful area.

Danville, the State of Illinois, and the Vermilion County Conservation District are committed to preserving our local resources

• Danville enforces a stormwater pollution prevention program to minimize erosion of our waterways and to ensure clean water, follow the link to see what you can do to help
• Danville has a yardwaste program to decrease the amount of material going to landfills
• Danville has a dedicated street sweeping program as part of the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund to reduce contaminants from entering our watershed
• Aqua Illinois and Danville are committed to preserving our source of drinking water, Lake Vermilion, pictured above
• Vermilion County Conservation District has created the Heron County Park on Lake Vermilion just off of West Newell Road with a viewing tower for herons and bald eagles 
• The State of Illinois reclaimed strip mines and created Kickapoo State Park with world class mountain bike trails, great fishing, hiking, and camping
• Danville has the Danville Mass Transit public bus service to minimize congestion and to reduce our carbon footprint
• Danville has created a master bike plan to encourage alternative modes of transportation, reducing our carbon footprint, through DATS, the Danville Area Transportation Study