Joliet OKs $249,000 for comprehensive city plan

The long-awaited comprehensive plan for Joliet will get started after the City Council hired a planning firm for the job this week.

It will be the first comprehensive plan for Joliet in about 60 years, according to city officials.

Joliet has done regional plans for a few sections of town, although those, too, have become outdated.

The comprehensive plan is intended as a guide for the future development in all parts of Joliet. It’s a common planning tool implemented by municipalities.

But Joliet will have to wait a little longer before its plan is completed.

A year to 18 months is the expected time frame for the job.

It will take that long in part because of outreach efforts to ensure public opinion helps shape the plan, Leslie Roth, director of urban planning for RATIO, told the City Council this week.

“This would be a colossal waste of everyone’s time if it did not enhance the quality of life for residents,” Roth said.

The council on Tuesday approved a $249,000 contract with RATIO to create the plan.

The city began its search for a consulting team in October 2018.

Roth said RATIO plans to hold more than 40 meetings with Joliet residents as part of the process. There will be pop-up workshops at public events such as farmers markets in an effort to reach residents who may not come to a council meeting.

An advisory committee will be formed to increase community involvement, Roth said.

Roth said that the plan will provide “policy recommendations that guide decision making for the next 20 years” and “should be a framework for all projects that come to the city.”

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said he had heard concerns about the scope of the plan.

“How do we assure going forward that you’re not just going to focus on downtown – that it’s going to be citywide?” the mayor asked.

Roth said “by definition” the comprehensive plan is citywide. “It can’t serve you in the way it needs to if it’s just a downtown plan,” she said.

RATIO has done 72 comprehensive plans for municipalities, Roth said.

The company has offices in Chicago, Champaign, Indianapolis, Denver and Raleigh, North Carolina.