“This will be our blueprint for the city moving forward” 

Mayor Terry D’Arcy

Joliet – The City of Joliet has approved two companies who will layout the framework for the City of Joliet’s ten-year comprehensive plan.  The plan will provide guidance for creating community places and spaces and identify community resources. Joliet has not completed a long-term comprehensive plan for nearly six decades. Comprehensive plans are usually performed every 10 years. 

Lamar Johnson Collaborative and Urban3 were chosen following an almost two-year process. A comprehensive plan is a visioning document or blueprint that guides the choices and civic investments of a community based on the feedback from within that community. The plan will help Joliet be more strategic in its investments in capital improvements in service to current residents and stakeholders, as well as assist the development of the community and future residents and businesses. 

Mayor D’Arcy thanked the council for supporting the initiative and to the staff who helped bring the project to the council floor. “This will be our blueprint for the city moving forward,” D’Arcy said. “It has been in the works for a long time but now we have the opportunity to work together as a community to plan our future.”

The Lamar Johnson Collaborative’s project approach consists of five phases, with each phase including public engagement activities and associated deliverables. Lamar Johnson Collaborative estimates that the project will occur over an 18–24-month timeline.

The project breakdown in five phases: 

  • Phase 1: Evaluate (project kick-off, project branding, data collection, existing conditions analysis, advisory committee and working group meetings)
  • Phase 2: Investigate (key person interviews, community visioning public workshop, key topic area definition and policy framework, advisory committee and working group meetings) 
  • Phase 3: Enhance (public workshop on key topic areas, advisory committee and working group meetings)
  • Phase 4: Empower (preparation of draft plan and preparation of subarea plans, advisory committee and working group meetings)
  • Phase 5: Examine (preparation of implementation plan, presentation of final plan, final plan open house)

Based on Joliet’s size (roughly 63 square miles) and the amount of work involved the cost of the project is estimated at $581,000.00 to be paid over the course of the next three fiscal years. 

The second company, Urban3 will perform a specialized Economic Analysis as part of the overall comprehensive plan project. This Economic Analysis will evaluate the impact that development has on the city’s finances and infrastructure. This analysis will enable Joliet to make policy decisions on future developments with the understanding of the overall impacts to the city.

Urban3’s fee proposal for an Economic Analysis is $138,768 which will be funded in part by a grant of $75,000 through the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority (JADA). Meetings to engage the public will take place throughout the community, according to City Planner and Project Manager Jayne Bernhard. “The Lamar Johnson Collaborative proposes a planning project and process that includes a variety of outreach and engagement activities,” Bernhard said.  “They will be meeting residents through a wide variety of meetings including actively engaging those not traditionally involved in the planning process, including youth, students, non‐native English speakers, shift‐workers and more.”