Does Dixon need more housing? Comprehensive plan workshops seem to think so

DIXON – The city of Dixon has kicked off the first step in creating its new comprehensive plan that will guide city leaders’ decisions for the next 20 years.

Houseal Lavigne, an urban planning firm based in Chicago, joined with Fehr Graham, a civil engineering firm based in Freeport, to work alongside the city for the next year to develop a comprehensive plan that outlines the community’s vision for its future development, preservation and growth.

In the past, comprehensive plans were difficult for the general public to understand. They were typically only used by city officials and attorneys. In fact, Dixon’s current comprehensive plan, developed in 1990, is a black-and-white document with many pages of text and a map of the city at the end, said Josh Koonce, practice lead at Houseal Lavigne.

The modern plan is “a living and breathing document” that will be available on the city’s website and is written in plain language. Ideally the plan will be developed with input from local businesses, community members and city officials, Koonce said.

Once it’s completed, it will outline, in general, what needs to improve and how to get there. It will guide the city on what developments, policies or investments it should or should not pursue based on specific themes that the plan outlines, Koonce said.

Koonce led city officials and community members through workshops generating ideas for the plan at two different events Tuesday and Wednesday.

At a Dixon Plan Commission meeting Tuesday, the City Council joined the commission to participate in a workshop led by Koonce, who posed four questions to city officials.

• What are the biggest issues facing Dixon today?
• What are the three most important issues of those that were discussed?
• What are three actions or projects that could be done to address them?
• What are Dixon’s primary strengths?

Koonce hosted a community visioning workshop Wednesday evening at Loveland Community House that invited the public to participate in plans for the city. The 15 community members who showed up to participate were given a map of the city, markers and an instruction packet. Based on seven categories – housing and residential areas, commercial areas, manufacturing areas, vehicular transportation, bike and pedestrian transportation, parks and community facilities and infrastructure – each group drew its ideas on the map.

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Eric Brown (left), with Greg and Heather Huffman, sketch out their ideas for housing improvements in Dixon Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. The city hosted a visioning meeting at the Loveland Building to gather information from the public on future city planning. (Alex T. Paschal)

From both meetings, three major topics emerged: schools, housing and development.

Schools

At the Plan Commission meeting Tuesday, six commission members and the council felt “preserving strong schools” was one of the most important topics to address in the comprehensive plan.

Rob LeSage, city attorney, pointed out that Dixon has a good public school system and it’s important that the city makes sure to continue that, he said.

A member of the planning commission said the city needs to improve transportation for high school students within Dixon’s city limits. Community members at the meeting Wednesday shared a similar belief, but had a somewhat different solution.

Ryan Latvaitis, a firefighter/paramedic with Elgin Fire Department, said that when he was growing up, kids from kindergarten up to eighth grade used to be able to walk to school if they attended their town’s public school. Those at the meeting thought it would be a good idea to have schools in each of the four quadrants of town so students would be able to walk to school.

Housing

Ten members of the commission and the council felt that, in general, the city needs more housing.

City Manager Danny Langloss said there’s a lot of deteriorating housing around town. One solution they came up with was offering a property tax credit for homeowners who complete renovations on their homes in targeted areas.

Mayor Glen Hughes said he would like to see new housing developments. For those new developments, the council and the commission discussed the possibility of offering first-chance bidding to single families to ensure they get priority over landlords who want to rent the properties.

Teresa Tucker, a newly appointed member of the planning commission, said Dixon is in need of more affordable housing. Tucker, who had moved back to Dixon recently, said she struggled to find a place she could afford.

Development

Six members of the commission and the council felt balanced commercial development was one of the most important topics to address in the comprehensive plan.

Greg Gates, a member of the Plan Commission, said that he would like to see “more commercial development, but not too much.”

At the community meeting Wednesday when discussing development, Latvaitis said “no more slots, banks or gas stations. We have enough.

“It makes the town look cheap,” he added.

Instead, community members agreed that Dixon needs more “third places,” Latvaitis said.

Latvaitis referenced Books on First, the part-bookstore, part-coffee shop and part-live music space in Dixon’s downtown area, as a great example. “We need more like those,” he said.

In general, community members and city officials discussed walkability. At Wednesday’s meeting, Latvaitis suggested a “pedestrian-only downtown area.”

For information or to participate in the planning process, visit Dixon’s comprehensive plan website.