Joliet City Council to weigh $564,250 proposal to develop comprehensive plan

The Joliet City Council will consider approval of a $564,250 agreement with Lamar Johnson Collaborative that may rise to $581,000 overall for a comprehensive plan that will guide future land use planning decisions in the city.

The council also willconsider an $138,768 agreement with Urban3, based in North Carolina, to prepare an economic analysis as part of the project to develop the plan.

The proposed professional service agreements with the two companies represent the next steps in the city’s efforts to develop its first long-term comprehensive plan since the 1950s.

Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy has considered the development of a comprehensive long-term plan the top item on his agenda. The city’s project to develop such a plan was briefly interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21.

City staff delivered a presentation on those agreements at Wednesday’s Land Use and Economic Development Committee meeting. Committee members Cesar Cardenas, Cesar Guerrero and Pat Mudron unanimously approved sending those proposals to the City Council for a vote.

That vote is expected to take place in late June.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Guerrero said he imagines there will be “quite a few naysayers” and referenced some of the online negative responses to the city’s recent beautification project. He said it will be important for the city to “get out ahead of this” and demonstrate the importance of the comprehensive plan project.

“Because otherwise, there are going to be folks, I think, in the public who will be of the impression that this is a way to issue contracts and to form committees with no clear goal in mind,” Guerrero said.

Six companies responded to the city’s request for qualifications by the Nov. 14, 2022, deadline, and Lamar Johnson Collaborative was chosen by an evaluation committee comprised of city staff, according to May 24 memo from City Planner Jayne Bernhard.

“After conducting the interviews, the review committee felt that Lamar Johnson Collaborative’s qualifications best met the desired outcomes for this project and had the most relevant experience for this project,” Bernhard’s memo said.

The company has worked on comprehensive plans for Waukegan and Buffalo Grove, according to city staff.

Company officials described the comprehensive plan as a document “centered on the values and priorities of Joliet’s residents and will be responsive to new opportunities and challenges.”

“The new comprehensive plan – the first in over 50 years – will be future-focused and will shape the city for years to come,” according to company officials.

Lamar Johnson Collaborative proposes a five-phase development of the comprehensive plan, which includes public engagement activities, as well as a 12- to 15-member advisory committee to guide the planning process. The company is a design and architecture firm that has an office in Chicago.

The company has a project fee of $564,250 to cover public engagement, stipends for volunteer citizen participation and labor for the preparation and delivery of the plan, according to Bernhard’s memo.

The company suggested the city budget between $15,000 to $17,000 to cover additional costs, bringing the estimated cost to $581,000.

Lamar Johnson Collaborative plans to collaborate with SB Friedman Development Advisors, MUSE Community and Design, Bio Habitats and TWIG, formerly Ruettiger, Tonelli and Associates.

The economic analysis from Urban3 will evaluate the “impact that developments have on the city’s finances and infrastructure,” according to Bernhard’s memo. The city has requested $75,000 from the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority to help fund a portion of the analysis.