East Peoria city leaders are making progress on developing and adopting a long-range comprehensive plan.
The city council held a 30-minute work session on the 2045 comprehensive plan immediately before Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting.
Planning and Community Development Director Ty Livingston said a key component of the plan is an updated land-use map.
“This is a very critical document to have in place that we want to show folks, ‘This is what the city is interested in; this is what we want to see,’ and then also to protect the city as we look at potential developments that might not be as beneficial to us,” said Livingston.
Livingston noted the council’s work session came after meetings earlier in the day with members of the joint committee and steering committee.
“One of the things that's already come out of the comprehensive plan that we're acting upon is a future development boundary with the village of Morton,” he said. “This is pretty important for both communities because it says, ‘We’re going to go to here, we’re going to go to here,’ and it gives us some good expectations for where we have to put infrastructure.”
Cristen Hardin, a senior project manager with the urban design firm PGAV Planners, walked council members through the most recent draft of the comprehensive plan. She said the focus is centered around four primary themes: growth and development, housing, transportation and connectivity, and tourism.
Hardin said the earlier open house on the comprehensive plan provided feedback and direction in “looking for those opportunities to build residential density in a way that you know, doesn't disrupt the character of existing neighborhoods in a way that would be uncomfortable for the community.”
She also told the council an important piece of planning for anticipated residential and industrial growth is thinking about East Peoria’s major street layout.
“There is a lot of land to be had that could potentially come into the city in the future,” said Hardin. “So one of the major road opportunities that we see is going to be the need to, at some point, create some new east-west collector or arterial type of roadways that will tie into Springfield Road and connect future residential subdivisions and commercial districts down in that area.”
Livingston said there’s “light at the end of the tunnel” in the process to get the comprehensive plan finalized. He said Hardin and her team will use the latest feedback to finalize the draft, with council action items to follow and full plan adoption expected in the fall.
“It's just interesting watching this come together. It's been a long process, but I'm excited to see where this is headed,” said Mayor John Kahl.
“We've kind of learned through the last few years, as things change, the importance of having this plan, and not just having it but taking these opportunities and actually doing something with them.”
