Nancy Kapp, president of the Renaissance Companies, and Jim Kinney, IAR Treasurer Jim Kinney met Thursday as part of a discussion on hydraulic fracturing.

While attending the Chicago Summit on the Bakken Shale, IAR Treasurer and Chair of the Hydraulic Fracturing and Drilling Task Force, Jim Kinney discusses with Nancy Kapp, President of The Renaissance Companies, how to implement unique housing options that are attainable to the variety of workers that are needed in areas surrounding the energy development and extraction industries.

Kapp presented a mixed-use development she is working on in Williston, N.D., an area where hydraulic fracturing for oil extraction has become a key industry. The development, called Renaissance on Main in downtown Williston will include retail, light office, and multi-family residential with units set aside for essential workers that cannot afford market rate.

Her discussion points were helpful for both Kinney and Sharon Gorrell, the IAR staff liaison to the task force as they continue their work towards making a final recommendation to the IAR leadership team.

These recommendations will include how the Association can equip its membership to transfer and assess value to property, protect property rights and consumers while also being out in front with IAR local GADs as community and economic development opportunities and challenges emerge in downstate Illinois where the opportunity for drilling and fracturing grows.