Meeting to order.

Okay, this is the December third meeting of the comprehensive plan advisory committee.

Do we have Mayor Darcy?

Here.

Councilman Cardinus is running late.

He should be here soon, though.

Ms.

Bottomly.

Here.

Mr.

Doris.

Ms.

Gruenberg.

Present.

Ms.

Howard.

Here.

Mr.

Martin.

Not here yet.

Mr.

O'Hara.

Here.

Mr.

Parker, not here yet.

Mr.

Pryor, let me know he had something come up.

He may be here later, but he's currently absent.

Mr.

Randich.

Mr.

Rico.

Here.

Dr.

Rouse here.

Ms.

Viveros.

Ms.

Walker, also absent, not here yet.

Mr.

Stewitch?

Here.

Chairman Rolf.

Here.

Okay.

Next on the agenda is the approval of the meeting minutes from November 5th of 2025.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

We have a motion and a second.

Mr.

Martin's here.

Hold on.

Yes.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second.

Take roll.

Mayor Darcy.

Hi.

Councilman Cardinals.

Absent.

Ms.

Bottomly?

Yes.

Mr.

Doris?

Yes.

Ms.

Gruenberg?

Yes.

Ms.

Howard?

Yes.

Mr.

Martin?

Yes.

Mr.

O'Hara?

Yes.

Mr.

Parker.

Mr.

Pryor.

Mr.

Randich.

Yes.

Mr.

Rico?

Yes.

Dr.

Rouse?

Yes.

Ms.

Viveros.

Ms.

Walker.

Mr.

Stewitch.

I wasn't here.

Chairman Rolfe.

Aye.

Okay.

Next is citizens to be heard on agenda items.

Is there anyone in the room who would like to speak on an agenda item?

Okay.

Seeing none.

We will move on to old business of which there are no agenda items, which brings us to new business.

And we will be discussing the vision, goals, and objectives document of the Juliet Comprehensive Plan.

And we have here today our consultants, Leslie Roth and Prayag, and they are going to lead us through the document with a presentation.

Cool.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm going to stand over here for the flip slides.

First, I just want to express some gratitude for the time and effort that you all have taken in sharing your thoughts, ideas, and opinions to get to this point in the process.

Have collected comments from the public, a number of city departments, you all, um, and many others who have elected to review and comment on this document.

This is a really pivotal time in the comprehensive planning process, establishing the goals and objectives and vision for this process really lays the framework for the next several phases of the project.

And so that's why we wanted to kind of spend a little bit more time in this phase of the project to make sure that we were capturing to go and had a clear roadmap and framework to do that.

Umso that we all uh began to create a shared language around the visioning for each one of the key topic areas of the project, and that really is our North Star.

So as we move forward with creating strategies, with creating the implementation plan, with identifying partners and continuing to build momentum and capacity for this project.

You know, are we accomplishing this vision?

Are we leading from the front in accomplishing these goals?

And so thank you so much for spending as much time as you did with this document and sharing um yourselves as a part of this process.

Um today we'll talk about a few different things.

Um we'll run through quickly a public engagement updates and the summary.

We created a companion document to the goals and objectives document that is a summary of all public engagement collected to date and is a summary of all the events that we've had so far.

I'm going to take you through each chapter of the vision and goals document, and we're going to pause after we run through the vision and goals for a little bit of discussion.

And lastly, we'll have an introduction of phase three, which are the key recommendations, and a few different events that will take place during phase three of the comprehensive planning process.

Just a reminder where we are in the schedule.

We are at the completion of phase two, which is the vision, goals and objectives document.

We, after we finish this piece, we will move on to phase three of this planning process, which is the halfway point, and will result in a deliverable of key recommendations.

Key recommendations are really the outline for the draft plan.

So we move the goals and objectives into actionable strategies, and that is the creation of key recommendations.

It's where we want to go next, and it's how we're going to get the stuff done essentially in the future.

The last two phases are the draft document where we put it all together, and the last phase of the plan, just a reminder, is a refinement of that draft draft plan.

A couple things we didn't add to the schedule.

Public engagement is ongoing and continuous throughout the entirety of the process.

We do not include it as a phase because we feel like it should be integral at it should be integral to the process.

And so it is ongoing, not only in formal opportunities like public workshops, but in informal conversations, one-on-ones, et cetera.

And I will extend again an invitation to all of you.

If you'd like to have a one-on-one with us, if you know folks that should be engaged with the process, please let myself or Jane know so we can make sure and include them.

Questions, comments so far before I jump into the actual document.

Cool.

Okay.

We'll keep going.

So this the vision and goals document had a lot of information in it.

There is an introduction.

What is it?

How do we use this document?

We do include a brief public engagement summary.

This is a bridge from the full summary that all of you have seen.

It's on the website and will be an appendix to this document.

We will talk a little bit about character areas that is also in the vision and goals document and lays a framework for how we're going to think about land use and the experience of the city as a whole.

This document also has vision and goals by topic area.

I'm only going to talk to you today about the vision and goals.

We're not going to go into each objective, but if there are objectives that you do want to talk about, we can do that during the discussion.

And lastly, this document ends on key priorities.

So these are key themes that we want to investigate in the key recommendations that we have heard many times now that are beginning to sort of bubble to the top as priorities.

Interested to hear your feedback on that.

They are not in any order right now, they are just listed as priorities that we've heard.

We will get to kind of a ranking system later on in this process, but for now, we just want to know what's important.

So chapter one starts out with overarching project goals.

These are goals that we started the project with, that we answer the request for the proposal with, that the city has created as guiding elements to make sure that we stay kind of connected and aligned with other city policies as and plans as we move through this process.

So the first goal is to chart the vision for Joliet's future.

This is, of course, the number one most important thing that we're doing today, and why we're putting so much time and effort together collectively in creating something that is valuable and implementable.

The second goal is responding to change and planning for opportunity.

A lot has happened since the last comprehensive plan in Joliet, a whole generation of people have been born since then, and so we want to make sure that we are creating a document and a framework and strategies and an implementation plan for the future of Joliet as well.

The third goal is to create a unified citywide framework.

We know that Joliet is made up of a number of different distinct geographies.

We know that there is from talking to folks, including you all, that there's connections to different parts of the cities, and that the city is experienced differently for all residents.

But the one thing that we've heard over and over again is that people love it here.

And so creating a unified citywide framework is a really important goal that we wanted to lift up.

The fourth goal is to strengthen regional and local collaboration.

While Joliet is a regional leader in a number of different ways, it is a connected, we are a part of a connected ecosystem.

And Joliet is an economic driver that is a part of that ecosystem.

So strengthening those relationships presents opportunities for Joliet to continue to strengthen the assets that the city already has.

The fifth goal is a focus on implementation.

I will say this over and over again through this process.

This is a giant waste of time if we can't do anything about it.

So this plan is meant to be implemented.

It is implementation from day one.

We started these conversations thinking about how are we going to do this and what do we want to do first.

And we will continue pressing that button until we accomplish all the goals in this comprehensive plan.

And lastly, empower local leadership.

This is a plan not for us.

We're just capturing the conversation and the goals and the priorities.

We are the technical experts because we've written comprehensive plans before.

This plan is for you.

It's for your constituents, it's for your friends, it's for your colleagues.

It is a guide for you to be empowered to make Joliet more successful than it already is.

So if there are these goals are stated because it's important not only to keep them in mind, but to make sure that the way this comprehensive plan is used is useful to you specifically.

Each one of you in this room and all the communities that you represent.

Second chapter in the goals and objectives document is community engagement.

We've done a few things, we've talked to a few people in the first few months of this process, and so this document captures what we've heard and what some of those key themes are.

We had a number of focus group interviews.

We've all talked about this before at the beginning of the process.

We've had conversations with council members to understand their priorities, their needs, their vision for the city.

Spelling error and community survey.

We had a community survey that ran for a couple months.

And we were really astounded by the outpouring of interest in this survey.

We collected over 2,000 unique responses, which is pretty amazing.

It blew, we wanted this to be a statistically significant survey, and we completely blew that out of the water.

So that was very exciting for us to see.

We facilitated our first public workshop that some of you were able to attend, and we will be having a second public workshop in this next phase of the project after the new year as well.

There's been a lot of other input that's been create collected.

Jane has had a number of conversations with a variety of constituents and city departments as well.

So what did we learn in the community survey?

As I mentioned, there were over 200 responses.

There were also mailers sent out, a number of aldermen actually created Facebook posts, which was really cool to see, and some of you did too.

There was also a really robust virtual campaign.

There was emails sent out on a regular basis, and there were six key themes that kind of bubbled to the top of this, which created the framework of topic areas for the goals and objectives documents.

So we'll run through each one of those.

In the full unabridged public engagement survey, you will see how many responses were collected from each zip code in Joliet.

We noticed that in the first three or four weeks of this survey that there were a number of upper under underrepresented zip codes, and so we made a concerted effort to make sure that there was active outreach to those zip codes, and those numbers actually did go up.

That was part of what spurred the mailer campaign to make sure that we were we were collecting diversity of voices within that survey.

And the survey was also could be translated into a number of languages on the online version as well.

So where English was not your first language, you were still able to participate, and we translated all those responses into so that we could integrate them into the public engagement summary.

We thought it was a big success.

We had over a hundred participants within at the workshop.

It was held at Joliet West High School on September 17th, so this was sort of a back to school event.

There were students actually from Joliet West that participated in the workshop.

And that was very exciting.

We plan on being more intentional about our outreach to young folks in our next workshop to make sure that that age range is captured more accurately.

And we had six stations during that workshop.

What you love about Joliet, living in Joliet, working in Joliet, getting around, having fun, and quality of life.

And each one of the stations had interactive exercises and souvenirs and take home and craft items.

So what were the key themes?

The first one was quality of life.

A lot of conversation around what people really love about Joliet and why they choose to stay here, raise families here, go to school here, or even return after moving away.

That was really, really important.

And from every station after our facilitators debriefed, that was something that came up at every single station that we facilitated.

Housing affordability and housing conditions was another theme.

This group, we know it's it's also an important topic area, and for residents of Juliet, while in the public workshop, we got a little bit more nuanced view of what each uh aspect related to housing really meant to residents.

That part was really important in helping us tailor the way that we form the goals and objectives in this deliverable.

Diversification of employment options and better paying jobs.

This really dovetailed into workforce development.

And while the comprehensive plan addresses primarily physical aspects of the city and land use and policy-related aspects, we know that uh being able to attract new residents is related to what this comprehensive plan should be.

So we wanted to capture those voices to understand how Juliet could strengthen the ability to attract new residents and employment and workforce development is one of those.

Community and culture, this was very important.

Juliette has a lot of really wonderful neighborhoods.

We learned about a number of different activities, uh, programs, uh, and other assets, community assets that residents really enjoy within each one of those neighborhoods, uh, including outdoor space, parks, trails.

There was a pretty cool contention of people who avidly ride their bikes, who told us all about the bike trail systems all over the county, which was really interesting.

Um so really being able to express what people love about their community was another key theme that bubbled to the top.

Um, and that you know, dovetails into parks and community assets.

I actually facilitated that station and learned a lot about how people use outdoor space and how people access parks, um, who's walking, who's biking, um, why they're going, and what they love doing there.

And so this is some an asset that Joliet has that not all communities actually have.

Um, not only the actual outdoor space and the level, the number of trail systems that come into the city, but also the active programming of parks.

So people really want to celebrate that and continue to see improvement.

Uh, environmental considerations are important.

This these conversations really dovetailed into transportation, uh, freight, and um truck traffic.

So those we understand that throughout this process there will be those kinds of intersectionalities, transportation, environmental justice, health, water, you know, all these different kinds of things.

And this was something that sort of began to bubble to the top during the public workshop.

Um, and lastly, uh the transportation and multimodal transportation systems, including bridges and sidewalk continuity.

We have in this group have talked about these issues before.

They we've identified some opportunities in the existing conditions analysis, and we continue to develop those in the goals and objectives deliverable.

I'm gonna stop talking for a second and take a breath.

Any comments or questions, observations about public engagement, the workshop, or anything that you've heard so far?

Yes.

You said you had 2,000 responses, but 306 were considered statistically significant.

Was that 2,000 responses the first response, or was that after you sent the additional?

That is in total, including the managers.

Yes.

And it was only it's people who answered the survey, it's not who the survey was sent to.

Right.

Okay.

And you suggested that at the first public workshop having a hundred participants was successful.

What has your experience been to give us a sense?

Because quite honestly, some of us were disappointed that it was not greater than a hundred.

Well, I flew down to St.

Louis last week for a workshop, and a total of zero people showed up.

So it's definitely better than that.

I mean, it just it really depends, and you know, we talk about this a lot.

What gets people to workshops?

We actually, yesterday in the studio, we had this conversation, and we actually polled, so in our office, there were maybe 40 or 50 people in the office.

And we polled people to see how many of you know you think architects and urban designers are definitely involved in their communities, like you know, they're on their planning and development boards.

We figured about 5% of people actually went to a workshop or filled out a survey at some point in their career.

So it depends on like do your kids have sports after school, do you work second shift?

Do you need to get dinner ready?

Do you not have child care?

I mean, there's a number do you just not care?

Do you did you fill out the survey and feel like that's really all you needed to do?

Did you not, you know, did it just skip your mind?

So there's a whole variety of reasons why people do not come to workshops.

Um we don't have an opportunity to ask them usually, like, why didn't you come?

Um, but we think that when a hundred people show up that it that it is a success because in cities the size of Juliet, I would say usually, because we we've done Walk Eagan's comprehensive plan, we did Chicago.

Um the workshops generally have around that many, anywhere from 30 to around a hundred or so.

It also depends on how connected to the process or issues people feel.

If they think personally this is going to impact me, there's a higher chance that they will come at their voice, you know, to the process.

For example, the the transit oriented development process.

People were really they felt very passionate about the way that it would impact that impact them personally, which is why you may have seen higher levels of attendance at that planning process.

Comprehensive planning processes because they're a little bit 30,000 feet up.

Um it's it takes a different level of communication for people to feel really personally connected to the process.

So when we think about our second workshop, that's a part of our strategy.

How do we get people to see themselves as participants in this and really begin to want to uh influence the the planning process outcomes?

So it's a I mean it's a challenge.

Have you asked?

Have any of you asked folks that you know why they didn't come to the workshop?

I have.

What did they say?

Um it's a combination, right?

And Leslie, I think you made the nail on the head, right?

It's like, oh, I had a thing, I had sports from a kids.

Um people didn't know.

Some people were told, hey, I got the mailer, but I got the mailer late.

Um, and I know we don't control the post office, so um it's a little bit of everything, right?

And I think that there's a little bit of, well, I don't understand how the comprehensive plan fits into my life, because frankly, it is a high-level planning document that you know, when you think like how does a comprehensive plan fit in my life, your average resident probably probably doesn't know, but when you start talking about like, well, it's zoning, right?

So, do you want more industrial development?

Where do you want that industrial development?

And it's making sure you take it instead of just these broad high-level planning terms and bring it down to where residents are really at, and I think that uh there's an opportunity there to do that better.

And I kind of want to add on, um, I said it before, I think that as we're looking at our next community engagement event, there is an importance to make sure that what we're doing online for engagement is really bolstered because I think that we did try a little bit with the first event.

Um, but when the online engagement is go ahead, look at these PDFs and send an email.

I like I love planning.

I am hyper-involved in my community.

I would not do that because like pulling up a PDF, and then okay, well, now I'm gonna type an email do homework in a different like in a it's too much, it's too high of a barrier.

So as we were looking at our next community engagement, I'd really like to see us do this in an intentional and meaningful way.

Right.

Thank you for that feedback.

Other comments?

Yeah, I think you know, um, for those that I encouraged to fill out the survey and lifelong Joliet residents, I think they felt like they did their part, and why am I gonna go out when I've already done and you addressed this, but I I do feel that strongly.

I think that the I I thought it was a fun event.

I like the way it was set up, and I think with any footage, any video, the photos that you took, I think you can create like a sense of fun around it, like it really was an engaging process, and you don't want to miss this one, you want to be there for the second one.

You want to be there for the second one.

So I think there's an opportunity, especially with social media to frame it as something you want to take part in that is interactive, that you're gonna get to leave your mark on this plan, and um I think there's a lot after.

I love that, thank you.

All right, uh, let's keep moving.

Um, so we're gonna talk a little bit about character areas.

So character areas uh are a way that we are thinking about uh space and place and Joliet.

So Joliet, as you know, has an existing land use map, and as a part of this process, we will create a future land use map.

Um it will look very similar.

It is color-coded by land use type, and those land use types that are that currently exist in the land use plan are listed across the top of this chart.

It's it's various types of residential development, it's various types of commercial and resident retail development, there's cultural and entertainment, there's hotel motel kind of hospitality, there's institutional, there's religious, there's industrial, there's transportation land use, um, and then we add we added a couple more because we're we're questioning if we need to uh think about land use diversification in a different way because of the specific conditions of the city.

The character areas that you see along the left-hand side of this are a way that we capture a place type.

So, what kind of place is it, what's actually happening there, and what is the experience we want to have in that place.

So many times the character area includes multiple type, multiple land use designations, so that we can create a whole place.

We realize that even in your neighborhood, it's not just homes.

There is streets, there's sidewalks, there's trails potentially, there could be some retail, maybe there's a school, maybe there's a church.

And so the character areas are a way to capture what is actually there, how it should be used, and how it should be experienced.

And so this dot bubble chart starts to starts to talk about that.

For example, in the central business district, there are a variety of land uses.

There's open space, there's commercial retail, there's mixed use, and there's hotel motel.

And there may be a couple other ones, but we want to keep this usable and understandable.

So the central business district is not only kind of one area, and it's not one land use, it's an experience, it's a place type, and it's unique from other places in the city of Joliet.

So the character area idea is a way to capture that.

Um we through the conversations that we've had and the analysis that we've done, we feel like it's very important to capture the nuance of different areas of the city.

So that when we say neighborhood, you know, we need to be really specific.

Where are we talking about?

What is the geography?

Even in the way that we talk about, you know, districts and neighborhoods in Joliet, it's very different.

Um, when we talk about the east side or the west side, when we talk about downtown, you know, etc.

So we want to make sure that we're being really specific in our recommendations for each part of the city, and we're capturing not only the land use, but also what we want it to be and what type of experience we want to have there.

So that's the character area framework that we're using, and you'll see continue to be developed and refined as we move through this document.

The character zone map or character area map that you see in the goals and objectives document begins to show you where some of these areas are.

Um these are specific sort of archetypes, so that when we say legacy residential area, this is an area of the city that has specific um unique types and can be kind of stamped around the city.

There's more than one legacy neighborhood in Joliet.

So we're showing you in this map an example of where some of those typologies are.

Transportation hubs.

There's more than one transportation hub in the city of Joliet.

But we want to give you some recommendations that shape what each transportation, what each transportation hub can be and how it should be experienced, and which land uses are appropriate for that specific type of environment.

Similarly, educational.

Many times educational, like Joliet Junior College is its own sort of place, and there is a unique uh way that you uh higher education institutions develop.

This is a unique characteristic of Joliet, but if there's another higher education institution, if there are other educational campuses, we we would stamp those around the city.

These are the ideas that should be embodied in this place type.

So this gives you an example of where some of those locations are within the city.

The next piece of this the goals and objectives document is economic development.

So I've written the goals up here.

Joliet will encourage equitable investment in people and places that increases access to housing, jobs, and economic opportunity and celebrates community identity.

The goals for economic development really begin to describe what we mean when we read when we talk about a vision for economic development.

And it is future focused and it is visionary.

The objectives further refine what the goals mean, and there's many of them for each one of these goals.

This particular chapter and the way that we structure this document is inclusive of housing in neighborhoods.

In the existing conditions analysis, if you remember housing and neighborhoods was a separate chapter.

So the housing in neighborhoods actually folds under economic development in this chapter.

We thought that it was important, and the goals are unique, like you will see the goals that are specifically related to housing, versus you know, for example, um difference between jobs or walkable destinations or economic drivers.

So these five goals begin to capture those overarching priorities of economic development.

I'll show you a couple maps and we can have a little bit of discussion about that.

Um, the all of these maps are in the goals and objectives document.

Um we thought it was important to, I want to show you this map of housing because it's quite interesting to look at housing by year built, um, and then medium household income.

So we've heard that you know, there while there is some good housing stock in Joliet that there's room for improvement, and it's not only infill, it's aging structures, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse.

And so overlaying these two uh data sets actually is quite revealing.

And if you squint your eyes, the part that you really want to look at is where the dots get more dense because it means that there's generally older housing in those areas.

Just for reference, the black dot is housing units built uh prior to 1960, and the blue dots are just for a point of comparison.

Blue dot is housing units built 1990 to 2009.

So you can see where if you squint your eyes, most of the black dots are versus most of the blue dots, and then you can see a mix of where all the housing in between kind of lives.

Um the median household income by census is varied throughout the city.

So you can see some areas, uh, the darker pink is higher median income.

Um it's somewhat related to housing age, but not always.

So that's something that we want to look at.

It's like on the west side of Joliet, you can see newer housing and higher incomes, but there are some higher incomes in areas where the housing is older, like in the legacy neighborhoods.

So this is just a nuance around income and housing, and we haven't quite put it all together yet, but there's some goals and objectives to review related to how we how we are going to handle that in the future.

Uh also wanted to show you this map about industrial and office development.

So, just quick explanation.

The colored dots are industry market sectors and clusters.

So the purple with yellow outline that you can see primarily on the east side of the city is industrial, and this is pipeline, not built.

The purple with the white outline is industrial existing.

So you can see if you squint your eyes, areas of the city that are sort of in the existing framework and structure of the city are set up for uh an increased industrial demand and building.

Um the bigger the dot means the bigger the development.

So the biggest dots on the east side of the city have more than a hundred thousand square feet of industrial and or office development.

And then you can see they get progressively smaller, closer to the river, closer to downtown, primarily because the lots are not as big, there's not as much room to develop very, very large scale industrial.

So as we move forward in the conversation around uh the strategies and land use plan and character areas, this is really something to keep in mind, and we should be asking ourselves based on what we're seeing.

Are these the right areas where you would like to see additional industrial and office development?

Are there areas that are not shown currently that we should be showing?

Are there areas that we want to phase out of that type of development pattern, et cetera?

So that's economic development.

Thoughts and ideas, comments?

I think something that might be good on those maps is you know, a lot of that industrial development is as with all cities, right?

Push to the outer edge of their border.

Um it would be great if we could have uh sort of a high level look at what our neighbors have right along those borders.

Because I'm looking at like the 55 and 80 area there, and it's got you know big circle transportation, right?

Part of that's a housing, uh there's a recreation area and one of the quadrants of that intersection, one is the village of Shorewood, and it's all residential.

Um and I think if we're gonna talk about where we should put that development, and sort of going with that is the city's realignment of wanting to work with our neighbors.

Um we need to know what's in those areas before we say, oh, look, there's an open space, we can just put a whole bunch of industrial there, and it's yeah, it's open Joliet space, but it's residential of our neighboring communities who maybe are not gonna be thrilled uh at the idea of having industrial, you know, right up against their residential development.

So I think if we could get a map that has some of that overlay, at least on those at least along the borders, you know, we don't need their whole comp plan, but just that that information of what abuts those areas, it would make that decision making um a lot easier and a lot more thoughtful versus just saying, you know, if you're looking at the map and it's just blank space, it seems like a smart idea, and maybe it's maybe it's not.

So this is an interesting observation.

The other thing that should be entered into the conversation is what do we do with unincorporated Joliet land?

So this is you know, this is another like put that in the same bucket, you know.

Will your neighbors be happy?

And also how what's the highest and best use of those unincorporated pieces, and do we want to take those on into the city or have proposed or have you know those kind of um multi-jurisdictional agreements to develop that together?

I think to Hugh's point, um, you know, we're sitting on about 41,000 acres, we've got 150,000 residents.

I continue to talk about the fact that the city's invested in water to 250,000.

And I've talked to the county leaders about making sure we understand what the halo around us looks like so they don't encroach on we don't need solar farms or we need houses.

We we need to be into this point, we need to be cognizant to the halo of our community because I know we're not gonna go up for 100,000, but we're gonna have to find those strategic spaces.

So good point.

Thank you.

I have a few comments going back to the legacy neighborhoods.

I know that Urban 3.

They currently did a study, and there are some findings about redlining specifically on the east and southeast side of Joliet.

So I just wrote a note with some of this information that was found.

There may not be some distinct areas on the east and south side of Joliet that might be considered as a legacy residential area because of what has been done to the area.

Either intentionally or unintentionally.

So I wanted to make sure how can we make sure that as these character zones are established, some of these divestive communities are not left out.

Yeah.

Uh this is a this is a good comment.

So the character areas do not discriminate around those kinds of um structural racist policies.

Um it's more about the people quality and experience in those particular geographies.

It's more about the people quality and experience in those particular geographies.

So it doesn't necessarily.

One is about repair and sort of dealing with past harms, right?

And what it did to the neighborhoods when those policies were enacted and for the duration that they were maintained.

The second piece of that is a visionary approach that's more aspirational.

We're here now.

What do we want this to be?

How do we want to experience it?

And there's a preventative aspect too, right?

We want to preserve our neighborhoods.

We want our neighborhoods to continue to fulfill our quality of life needs and have amenities that maybe we don't have today, but want to plan for in the future.

So I appreciate the historical part, and I think that the harm repair piece does need to happen.

And also is the intention of the character areas to create an experience of space and place that is equitable and does include those neighborhoods that may have not had the same opportunity in the past.

Okay.

And then also just going through the document, I just made a few notes on uh specific pages.

For the areas where we saw a concentration of the black dots, uh and this is for the housing age and household income.

Yes.

Is there a way for us to go more micro and also kind of with those dots throughout the area look at?

So on the east side, what's the housing age on the east side?

Can we go uh that uh a little bit?

Yeah, we have parcel level data.

This is a heat map just to give you um something that is more graphically clear than looking at a zoomed-in view.

But as we move through this process, we want to give specific recommendations, so we will have to get that granular.

Okay.

Okay.

Uh multimodal mobility.

Um, there are quite a lot of goals for multimodal mobility because it is a complex and diverse topic.

Um, this topic area uh covers, well, let me read the vision statement first, and then we'll jump into the goals.

Joliet envisions a connected, accessible, and sustainable transportation network that moves people and goods safely, efficiently, and equitably.

Our vision is to improve mobility, to support vibrant neighborhoods, reduce environmental impact, enhance public health, and provide every resident and visitor with reliable, affordable, and seamless options.

So the eight goals really cover a variety of topics.

They cover roadways, sidewalks, trail system, transit, um, accessibility and circulation, connected systems, um, bridges, uh, etc.

And the many of the objectives talk about ways to create a connected system that enhances what is already happening within the TODC.

Um this that study was really important uh foundationally, and we're we're thrilled that it happened before this process um started, so that the recommendations in the comprehensive plan can build on those that have already been adopted uh in that TOD plan.

Um you will also see within these goals that there are some um specific uh objectives related to transit infrastructure.

We lean heavily on that and the ability for Joliet residents to move through all parts of the city in a connected and seamless way.

Uh also looking at roadway systems, we have heard, especially in the public workshop, um, many earfuls about truck traffic and train traffic and the bridges.

So this is also addressed in uh in this study.

Um the other piece that we heard quite a bit about is how people how um what an asset it is that I think there's five or six different trail systems that all sort of come very close to downtown Joliet and what that means for folks that are using those trail systems and by bike or walking Leslie um point of clarification.

It looks like the goals are off.

I think we're down to six with the the document that the committee has.

So goal number three and four and eight have been combined.

And then goals six and seven were also combined.

You're right.

Let me just let me read them.

So we can just all be on the same page.

Sorry about that.

Yeah.

Because this has been revised and posted.

Goal one is enhance road infrastructure for safety and efficiency.

Goal two is improve traffic flow and connectivity.

Goal three is encourage public transit and regional connectivity.

Goal four is enhance transit infrastructure and public awareness.

Goal five is expand bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

Goal six is enhance bicycle and pedestrian safety.

Thank you, Jane.

Other thoughts and comments about transportation related goals and objectives.

And then we might have to go back to the previous slide because I guess I want the committee to confirm that the goals are what we are going to be launching forward with as the goals for this sub-area.

So you know, this is we need to we need to confirm that these are these are the goals of the plan.

We have to go back to the previous um section, we can, but I want to walk away with these multi-mob multimodal mobility goals.

Do they jive?

What you've heard, what the the information from the existing conditions report showed, your own experiences, these make sense moving forward.

No one that I have a lot of thoughts on this.

Um I really enjoy going through and reading the goals.

I think they very much align with what I've heard professionally, what I've heard from members of the community.

Um I took a couple of notes just because uh my bread and butter is multimodal transportation, right?

Like I live this, I work this.

Um I think that there's a couple of things in these goals that I think I'd like to see some additional clarification or just um additional information.

Um, and the second goal of improving traffic flow and connectivity, and prove traffic flow and connectivity for who?

For vehicles, for freight, for trucks, for trains, right?

I think that that leaves a little bit of a gray space.

And as I'm reading it, and as I was starting to go through and read it, I was like, okay, is this also include bike and pet infrastructure?

Obviously, there's a separate goal for that, which is great and should exist, but I think we need additional clarification in there.

Um, and you know, again, for encouraged public transportation and regional connectivity.

What regional connectivity, what does that mean?

Um, I think adding that within there is good.

Um, and then the last thing that I wanted to add is the the sixth goal under multimodal mobility is enhance bike and pet safety.

Um I think that that is so clearly uh a great priority something we want to see, right?

We want to make sure that all users of our roadway network are safe, that people don't have concerns about their own safety when they get on a bike, when they go for a walk, when they're driving their car.

Um that does kind of tie into the first goal of enhance road infrastructure for safety and efficiency.

Um I would almost like to see us pull safety as its own whole category for every roadway user.

I don't care if you're driving a car, I don't care if you're biking, I don't care if you're walking, running, it should be safe.

Period.

So I would I would really love to see us change six to enhance safety for all users of transportation systems and networks and kind of remove that from the first goal.

But otherwise, to me, these are really well aligned with what I think I've heard from the community.

Great, thank you.

Okay.

I think those comments are very good.

One two, maybe in the presentation.

I look at the goals, but shouldn't you state the vision statement first and put that on the left side because a number of the things that Elaine is referring to, particularly that moves people and goods safely, efficiently, and equitably, is described in that vision statement.

And I think if that's something that you read first, and then you read the goals, you still need to define them a little better as you've described.

But I think that vision statement helps set the tone, if you will, for how you're going to look at those goals.

Because I look at it and say connected, accessible and sustainable transportation network that moves people and goods safely, efficiently, and equitably.

Drive that.

Exactly.

Sorry.

I like that.

So it sounds like Listen also has anything more to add to this one.

That the goals are good.

They capture what you want to see.

Um maybe a combinate combining goal one and six and looking at that.

Anything else?

But then I do want to go back to the economic development one.

Sorry.

Just need to make sure.

My statement applies to all of them, putting the vision statement on the left side of the page.

Because that's the driver.

That's the vision that you have.

Those goals support that vision.

Yes, no?

No, that makes sense, Jim, because you do you read from left to right.

You don't read from right to left.

And so having the presentation represent that at all on this one.

I don't think it was a it was a left or right thing.

I think it was a design choice.

That's that's that's just graphic design.

So I don't think my eyes go to the bold design.

This is the last time you're gonna see this presentation.

Yeah, I mean, my my eyes automatically go to the bold, the big business agent first before I go to the goals, but that's just a design element.

It's not it's not meant to be read like a normal document until it is.

That's and that's what's going on.

Maybe that's the looks at it differently.

Yeah.

I think one of those.

I think this exercise we want to focus on confirmation of the goals.

I will read the documents that you have.

Again, this is slightly off.

Um I will read the economic development goals out loud just so we all can hear them together.

Goal one is strengthen legacy residential neighborhoods through contextual residential development and preservation of existing homes.

Goal two is encourage new residential development that is responsive to community needs and demographic changes.

Goal three is encourage infill development and redevelopment of key commercial corridors.

Goal four is increase access to quality jobs that provide pathways to upward mobility.

Goal five, bolster downtown Joliet's position as a vibrant walkable destination for residents, businesses, and visitors.

Those are the five economic development goals.

So we're just looking for confirmation that these are the right goals.

I love them.

Yeah.

Awesome.

I mean, it it screens what we've been saying is not an either-or way of development, it's an inclusive way of development.

We've heard everybody's perspective, and it's not that one-sided way where this is how we do it, this is the only way we will, but I think it reflects what we've heard across, you know, different perspectives.

And I mean, and it all can happen at the same time.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I'm seeing nods.

Well, I agree with my millennial friend.

People always hesitate when they agree with the millennial.

Always a hesitation.

You got a small call.

And we dressed the lab.

We all got cordips on.

I was trying to show something like that.

I think I think the goals that we've reviewed so far do capture what this committee has talked about.

Right.

Because that's why this committee exists, they all bring a different dimension to the effort, and I think this is reflective of that.

And as we continue to work through with the next workshop, these could be tweaked a little bit.

There could be something that comes up and we go, wow, how did we miss that?

Right?

And so whether it's presentation and format and reverse it or whatever.

I always read the bold first.

Maybe that's because I don't know what I am when.

But boom, you're great boom.

Great boom.

Nobody wants to say it, right?

I think I think having those goals, I think we have to be careful about getting too many under each topic because that implementation or execution that you're talking about becomes extremely difficult if there's too much to do.

Totally agree.

I think we need to make sure that we've honed in on the things that we can accomplish.

And we're not there yet, but think about what's the next one to two years, three years, the next four to seven and seven to ten or whatever.

Because everybody around this room would like to say, okay, let's do all this tomorrow.

I mean, literally, that's that's all I think.

How am I going to get that done and when?

And I think that's where we're going in this next workshop and the group workshops that are coming up will help drive this a little bit.

But I think what we've seen thus far is what I've heard around this table from all the committee members making their contributions and comments.

And again, we don't all agree on the same things necessarily, but that's also why we're around the table to make sure we can come to some agreement on the on the approach, but also understand that agreeing today on something in 18 months from now, our environment might be different, and we need to we need to adjust on the go.

So thank you for your comments.

All absolutely true.

Um, this is a living breathing document, and you should never feel like you are locked in today forever on any of these ideas.

This things change.

I mean, we've lived through many things that have changed in recent history.

So this is not meant to be something that locks you in place.

This is meant to be a guide to continue your conversations and continue you moving forward.

Um I agree.

We tried to limit three to five goals, other it just gets too unwieldy after that.

Um, and we also are getting to the part that I know all of you are very anxiously awaiting is the how do we do this and when do we do it?

So we're we're we're inching along, so thank you for your patience.

Um this process is really meant to challenge you and challenge us also as your consultant.

Um there are uncomfortable topics in this document.

Ones that we may be hearing for the first time, or maybe we didn't want to know about.

Um that's the exciting part about this process is having those conversations so that we can create a better future together.

Um, and we hope that you know, just from the the voices that we've heard, we read all of the comments of those two thousand people that filled out the survey, and it it we were pleased to hear that many of the comments that you have ripple and resonate throughout the community.

There's not a lot of difference between what you are saying as the advisory committee and what residents at large are saying.

The difference is personal experience the personal experience and the nuance of words.

That's what we're it comes down to semantics sometime about sometimes about how we talk about these issues.

And we never discredit or discount when people are talking about the same subject using different words.

That's how we create a shared language together, because we have to ask, what do you mean when you say?

You know, and that gets us to feel a little bit uncomfortable, but it gets us to the richness that make you excited about using this plan in the future.

So thank you for those for those comments.

Sounds like we're all set on the goals.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Um, so let's go on to future development and land use.

I'm gonna read the vision statement.

Um, unfortunately, it's on the right side of the slide, but I'll read it first so that we can we can kick off in the right place.

Joliet will grow with purpose.

Development builds on the city's strong foundations, its neighborhoods, its industries, and natural assets, creating places that connect people to opportunity and reflect Joliet's history, character, and spirit of progress.

And I will go ahead and read the goals out loud as well.

There may be a little bit of word choice changes that we've made.

Goal one is strengthen and celebrate Joliet's distinct character areas.

Goal two is modernize the regulatory environment to support equitable, efficient, and adaptable growth.

Goal three is ensure equitable access and preservation of community assets and amenities.

Goal four is preserve the authenticity of Joliet's neighborhoods and celebrate their history and culture.

And goal five is concentrate development in activity centers and corridors.

Goal six is plan for sustainable and resilient growth and create equitable land use patterns.

And goal seven is encourage development of innovation districts that balance workforce and development opportunities.

Thoughts about the goals.

The alarm.

Sure.

Number two.

You read, I know that was it was it's different from what's on the slide.

Yep.

What was number two again?

Modernize the regulatory environment to support equitable, efficient, and adaptable growth.

So this goal is really about updating the zoning ordinance.

I was gonna say it just sounds it's worded difficult for the average user, I believe.

I don't know if there's a if there's a simpler way to say it so that um we need to remove it.

Yeah, can we just say guys so we can do that?

So it's more than zoning, though.

It also includes a subdivision ordinance.

So maybe we need to say zoning and associated ordinances.

This is a problem with the regulatory stuff, is that it's hard to simplify it beyond what it actually is because it is more than zoning.

So I am happy to take a shot at um de-jarganing this because it always is annoying and frustrating when that happens.

Um it's just more words.

So I I think that maybe descriptive, what I hear you saying is that descriptive is better, so that it's easier to understand.

Yeah.

I would also say um I would look at the objectives that there's six of them that fall underneath goal two.

And I just think if you see the the range of the objectives and then pair it with the not the version that's up there, but the that's uh the one that's in the document, then I think you can kind of see where we're going with the code.

So it clears up the fog.

That's my opinion.

That was I'd like you to look at it and then we can see.

It uses theory of language.

I agree with Jane.

Yes.

If if you're just looking at the goal without looking at the objectives, you know, we could sort of wordsmith all day, but you think this is supposed to be the overarching, and then your objectives are gonna kind of dial in further.

So yeah.

I mean, just for reference, so we're all on the same page.

Objective 2.1 is um update the zoning ordinance, essentially.

I'm gonna summarize because there's a lot of words.

Objective 2.2 is create flexibility in the zoning code to support the kind of development that we want to see.

Objective 2.3 is create is support predictable, transparent development review processes that are you know aligned with community goals.

Objective 2.4 is also about development standards and uh continuity.

It also uh references infrastructure capacity, which is um related to density and population growth.

Uh objective 2.5 is about collaboration within the government, local and regional governments.

Objective 2.6 is uh integrate unincorporated areas, and we haven't decided how we want to do that.

This is an objective of this process.

Um that's it.

There's six objectives.

So it's a little more rich than just the zoning ordinance, but the point I'm taking away is make sure we're de-jarganing so that it's understandable.

I am okay with the goals.

One of the things that I think, and I don't know if it needs to be said or not, is that staffing, zoning officials, uh planning and uh boards and councils need to adopt and understand the updated zoning to ensure future development projects are not delayed or denied, especially if these projects adhere to the updated zoning measurements.

So I don't know if we need to include that, but I do think sometimes, even though they are updates made, there's still some resistance.

So I don't know if we should also include that in the objectives.

Um updating the zoning ordinance.

I know all of you know this, but I'm just gonna say it out loud.

Updating the zoning ordinance is a completely separate planning process, right?

Um that's another year of your life, and it's a totally different public engagement process, and it is you know, you won't see us here for that one.

Um, but what you're saying is absolutely true and should be a part of that process.

Um the the other piece is that when we get to strategies, part of what you're saying can be in there also because uh you're saying multiple things.

You're talking about a development review process and consistency with whatever that new zoning ordinance is, and you're also talking about um education awareness and enforcement.

So those are all pieces and parts of strategy.

How do we do this?

People have to know how to use this document, and also what to do to get to uh the accomplishment of the goals.

So, yes, yeah.

So I think that's captured be in will be captured, sorry, as part of the approval process for this plan because this plan has to go before the council.

Council is the oversight for the whole city, and all the departments are within that, and I think that plan then would be communicated out so that there is that understanding.

This is your driving document to do whatever it is your responsibility is within city government in this case to implement.

Yes, and I think that somehow maybe I missed it.

I didn't see that in the in the document that says bring it to the city council for approval.

It's in the scope of work, it's on the contract with us.

There's also a couple um supplemental opportunities uh during that approvals process.

One of them is to conduct a training with folks that'll be using this document so that they can understand what it is and how to use it.

And another thing that we generally do is uh just create some scenarios like what if you had this issue, or what if you encountered this particular problem, how would you use the comprehensive plan to solve it?

So that's just to give you, you know, and that's we just make up scenarios that we've sort of heard during the planning process.

So we will include that in some of the you know, once we get a little bit further down the road in the how to use this plan piece, um, you'll see some of those scenario uh planning ideas pop up.

And if you have, I mean, part of the training also is if you're encountering uh opportunities that you think the comprehensive plan can address, a big one that we always hear is like a developer wants to bring fill in the board development, and we don't know if we like it or not.

How can the comprehensive plan you know help us sort of either defend our position or support the developer?

You know, that kind of thing.

Like how can it be used for conversation purposes and enforcement purposes for maintaining the character we're trying to establish in our city?

So it'll be those kinds of things.

How targeted will this future development land use plan be to the point where we could bring developers in and show them a color map that says this is what we want here, this is what we want here, and then specific developers will look at that parcel.

Are we gonna get that targeted with this in the end?

Uh yes.

And that's currently what it is, parcel level.

So yeah, we won't have all these appeals.

Well, we'll still have appeals, I'm sorry.

Not American.

Well, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, the land the future land use map will show what the what we what the community with this process is identified as the suggested desired land use.

That's in the comprehensive plan.

Now that's different from what the zoning designation is.

So the future land use map will hit on areas that aren't part of our city limits right now, so we'll be identifying what would what would be the desired future land use of of those parcels, those areas, and also look at existing areas of the city, and maybe you know, in the year 2026 or coming out of 2026, what do we would we think that this area should be this you know land use now?

And then that zoning, that will be a guide then for city staff to think, well, now we need to think about do we do a rezoning of that area as an overlay district.

So which gets to your appeal, like the appeal part would still come through the zoning process.

So there are there still will always be two maps, unless you know the zoning map really does that's a that's a big process too, but it's one that I think we're aspiring to.

So if something's I one and we wanted to go R3, that's a zoning change.

That's a zoning change.

That's where we bring it up in here.

Yeah, and that's where the council has to be.

So goals confirmed.

Yes, yes.

Yes, okay.

Uh the next topic is environment and natural resources.

And the vision statement is Joliet envisions a connected inclusive system of parks and open spaces that celebrates the city's industrial heritage while restoring its ecological foundations.

Um, and I'll read these goals.

Goal one is improve equitable access to comfortable parks and open space.

Goal two is support and protect waterways, wetlands, and ecological corridors.

Uh, and goal three is strengthen the connection between public health, green infrastructure, and open space planning.

And there's a couple maps in here also, just to share.

Um, one of them is distribution versus need of open space.

So this map um, we've had a lot of conversation about it.

Basically, what it's saying is most of the city is fairly well served by parks, um, and that there are some areas that could be better served, but this map is based on population density.

So there's um generally the areas of greatest need for parks also have the highest density of population, um, which you'll see is primarily in the center of the city.

In areas that are less dense, there is less need for parks, so that's why there are some areas of this map that are not colored in essentially, and this is really based on population density.

It's not saying there are no parks in that area, it's saying that the parks that are there are adequate.

So, in the more dense areas of the city, there is an opportunity to add more green space or consider more green space.

Um, but the city is well served by parks.

That's the takeaway.

Um, this map really talks about um floodplain and ecological corridors.

I mean, Juliet has a very interesting um ecology, and so our consultant wanted to highlight where those sensitive areas of the city were because you may want to consider treating them differently when it comes to development.

Um, and that's a conversation that is ongoing, but we've written it into the goals and objectives that this is a really important part of um of how the city can remain sustainable.

Um this map is about air quality, so you can see uh the areas where there is um uh higher where there's better air quality are on the south side of the city and west sides of the city, and areas where I mean you can imagine there's just more opportunity for pollutants.

You will see that PM 2.5, which is a measure of air quality particles in the air, is higher on the generally the north side of the city.

Um the middle part of the city is uh where the sort of medium orange is means that there is an average amount of uh the air quality is fine, but there is an average amount of um particulate in the air.

This is not unusual in urban areas, and it's not necessarily something to be um hugely concerned about because we are people living in a city and we are making you know some of this.

Um so just by living here, there is a little bit of um some compromise of air quality, but in areas where you're seeing higher levels of particulate, it's something to be aware of because there could be potentially public health impacts.

The reason why we decided to do this analysis is to help our decision making around land use, where and and what uh is causing those areas that could have comp that could be compromising air quality.

So this is awareness raising, and then the policies that come out of this, um, we we can determine those together.

There are many more maps in um the document.

I just wanted to show you a couple that uh um highlighted specific issues in the city.

Do you think it would be worth adding a goal about connecting the transportation network to making uh environmentally beneficial decisions like streetlight timing or all the other things CMAC uh is qualifies for, but um you know, the the less the less truck idling we can have within the city limits, the better for air quality.

And I think that map highlights that it's largely where you see a lot of truck idling um messes with the particulates in the air.

I think that the the connection between those two probably needs to be highlighted in some way in that that section.

I'm trying to I'm trying to come up with like a verbiage for it, but yeah.

Well, I I agree, and then thinking maybe goal three, which the wording up there is slightly different, it's strengthen the connection between public health, green infrastructure, and open space planning.

Maybe there's an opportunity there to have an objective related to making that connection more explicit.

Yeah, wherever it would be appropriate, but I think that that needs to be highlighted in the environment part because that's something that normally environment and natural resources, everybody gravitates towards the parks, open space, waterway.

But if we want to talk about air quality, then we've got to talk about the transportation network.

Okay.

Even for the vision statement, I think um it's definitely celebrating the city's industrial heritage, but also celebrating the people.

I think people should be included in that for the environment and natural resources.

So there's a whole chapter on people.

Spoiler.

Let's go through that chapter, then you tell me if you still think it should be here.

Okay.

Any other comments about the goals and then related to the objectives that are within the environmental environment natural resources topic area.

I think I just have a general question.

At what point are we supposed to be giving feedback on the objectives?

I mean, I know we're doing high level right now, I don't want to completely derail us, but I mean, I think now if you have specific objectives, I mean it's a little wordsmithing things.

I think we can work with you offline, but if it's big picture that I think we're missing an objective, I mean I think I'd like to have that discussion now.

We also be looking at the objectives at the work at the workshops in December or in January.

But it's so I I guess it's your choice.

If you want to the committee or if you want to vot it during a workshop, I think workshops are good.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

So thumbs up on these goals.

Yes, okay.

So let's talk about utilities and infrastructure.

Um, we have three goals for this chapter.

Or sorry, let me read the vision statement first.

No, those are repeating.

Yes, sorry, the previous slide for some reason.

Oh, well, let's just pay attention to the vision statement on this slide, then the city's infrastructure from sewers to communication resources will be well maintained, equitably paid for, and anticipate future needs of the community.

And I'll just I'll go ahead and read the goals out loud for utilities and infrastructure.

Goal one is improve Joliet's capacity to deliver the infrastructure needed to support projected growth and development.

Uh goal two is ensure long-term water security and affordability.

Goal three is modernize wastewater and stormwater systems.

Those are the three goals for utilities and infrastructure.

Um, I will say for this chapter that um the work that Urban 3 has done helped influence some of the work that we put in this chapter so that those two reports are consistent and that the comprehensive plan can lend sort of support and weight to the implementation of the recommendations of that report.

There's just a couple maps in here also that we pulled from the goals and objectives.

One is flood susceptibility.

There should be no surprises here.

It's based on the waterways that run through the city and urban heat island.

Similarly, these are um hot spots in the city, primarily based on density, but could also be based on where the tree canopy is reduced.

So that's something to be considered as we move through this process is if recommendations should be made.

Um or how open space and the tree canopy can support infrastructure and reducing the heat item effect.

Um since these are not the right goals, I'm happy to read them again to make sure that you all feel comfortable with them.

Would that be helpful?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes?

Okay.

Goal one is improve Joliet's capacity to deliver the infrastructure needed to support projected growth and development.

Goal two is ensure long-term water security and affordability.

And goal three is modernize wastewater and stormwater systems.

Okay.

One thing we the uh uh with the equitable access, I think equitable access to internet services is something that needs to be under utilities.

It's included in the uh like 1.3.

I just wanted to make sure that one was looking at the goals and remembering what's yeah.

The objective is expand broadband access, especially to um east side neighborhoods or underserved neighborhoods.

I think having the ability to have multiple providers is the key to that and the recognition of the fact that there's not actually good cell phone signal in certain pockets of the city.

We had to add um cell phone boosters in a couple of our schools because there's zero cell phone capacity within those buildings because there are pockets where the towers don't reach.

So yeah, there is a broadband access map in the document and talks about expanding reliable high-speed internet citywide and closing existing service gaps.

Excuse me.

I would agree with Q though.

More more how do I want to say suppliers of internet access would be a good thing.

Okay.

I'm not sure if that would was what you just said.

No, I said something totally different.

I know the definition of like high speed internet.

At least for like the state when you're talking about do you have access to high speed internet?

Their definition of access and actual access are widely different.

You know, like we've got areas just outside or unincorporated where you know they have quote access to high speed internet, but it's maybe like uh 3G cell service or or something like that.

So the comprehensive plan is not able to government.

No, I understand the industries come, but I just I want can you just clarify sort of like how you think the comprehensive plan can address this issue?

I think just stating that it's a it's a goal to to make sure that we have equitable access to two high speed areas.

As long as that's listed as a goal, I think that that's that's important.

Yeah, okay.

Yep.

Yeah, I don't I don't expect the high the comp plan to bring us multiple ISPs.

So something like you know, uh equitable access and diverse group of providers.

I mean, I think that can cover that at the same time.

It it addresses both things.

Yeah.

So we think that's a provider's part is is a recommendation.

It's like we move on to the nation.

We wouldn't like that.

So I think we were yeah, we would like that, yeah.

We'll make sure that that's included as a foundation objective one point three can just be expanded with both of those statements.

Yeah.

You know, I want to digress for one second, Vic back to your point.

Multiple providers Bishops Hill, we ATT considers it a campus.

And they just showed up out of the blue and said we're interested in providing an internet service.

I I think that leads to the it helps address the affordability issue.

If we have good competition with providers, there's gonna be better service.

Sure, not just one service, not just so you know, as a goal or as uh as a suggestion.

I I think it's just good for everybody competition.

Yep.

At this point, after water, if you don't have internet service.

I mean, I'm sure Dr.

Rouse can highlight what happened during COVID.

Oh, that was special, yeah.

Yeah.

Well, there's I mean, there's an aspect of um we all expect to have access, but not everybody has access.

Right.

And so you know, at some point, when does internet access become just ubiquitous and it's just part of what's available in a city versus what I have to pay for separately?

Do you know what I'm saying?

Because there's and there are cities who have done just full-scale coverage of their surroundings.

Um, but I'm not I'm not saying that we need to go there, but the the realities are there's a there's an aspect of the expectation is that we have ubiquitous coverage of um high-speed internet access, and we don't.

Um I mean there are some areas here in town that even the hot spots that we give to students to use from home because they don't have internet access, don't work because there's not there's not infrastructure for it to work.

So um, yeah, so there's there are layers to that issue that are more than just more providers or anything.

There's there's there are multiple layers to what that issue looks like for certain pockets um in this community, and it's and it's random weird pockets where there are limited cell phone signal capacity.

Are those rackets identified?

Do we know where those lattice are?

We have a map in the document that shows where those gaps are I mean I'm confused why we even have this conversation about the internet, like something that's a critical service should be just as a utility electricity comes to your house and internet should come to your house.

But thank you.

That's just agnostic, but that's what I mean by digital.

So yes.

Yes.

Amen.

Just saying.

Okay, so I think we're good there.

Let's talk about people, culture, and belonging.

Um this is the last chapter in the document before uh the community-driven priorities.

So the vision statement for people, culture, and belonging is Juliet is a city where every resident feels a sense of belonging.

It's people, cultures, and stories are visible in the public spaces, events, and neighborhoods that bring the community together.

The city celebrates its diversity, honors its history, and supports creativity as a vital part of civic life building prime action.

These are all good.

Okay, great.

Um for people, culture, and belonging, the five goals are uh goal one is strengthened neighborhood identity.

Goal two is expand access and engagement with arts and culture.

Goal three is improve access to civic and engagement opportunities.

Goal four is build on Juliet's cultural identity and regional presence, and goal five is center community pride and prosperity and welcoming environments and inclusive public life.

And I will let you know that I highlighted Jollieth's greatest strength is its people.

These are good.

I like this one.

Any other questions or comments?

Um I do have uh a comment, and it's I think it's a little bit uh directed directly at uh city employees uh for our city to be so diverse.

Um I mentioned that uh city employees should also reflect the the diversity of the city, especially higher level management positions where decisions for the city are made, which impact our diverse residents.

This came up in a focus group, actually.

It's a good one.

Okay.

Um these good confirmed.

Fantastic.

Okay.

So the the last piece of this is really um, well, it's the last piece of this presentation.

It's actually the start of a conversation around uh key recommendations.

Um there were several priorities that um sort of bubble to the top of uh based on all of this information that is in this document.

One second.

Yeah, um, based on the you know, a variety of information that's in this document.

And so these are seven priorities that we will continue investigate, continue to investigate together as we move into the key recommendations phase of this process.

Um, these are priorities that from the key topic areas that are in this document, um, all the public engagement work that we've done and the voices that we've heard, these are the priorities that keep coming up over and over again.

They're topics that people keep saying we want to talk about this more essentially and help these overarching priorities sort of frame out the beginning of these key recommendations.

Um, the first one is about strong neighborhoods and housing stability, and these are big bucket issues, right?

These are not, we're not drilling down to strategies yet.

We just know that this is super important, and so we're going to keep talking about it and keep workshopping it together.

The second priority is economic opportunity and local investment.

So, this also includes workforce, this includes hiring, this includes all those different pieces and parts.

This includes business attraction and retention, um, etc.

Priority three is about mobility and access across the city, and this is multimodal, right?

So, how do we connect you know in a variety of different ways and making sure that it is also safe?

Priority four is cultural and historic identity.

Um Joliet is very diverse.

It's something that almost everyone says is one of the greatest parts about living here is just exposure to many different people from many different backgrounds in many different ways and environments.

And so this is something that we want to keep talking about.

Um priority five is sustainability and environmental resilience.

Uh Joliet has a number of ecological factors that make it a unique place in the region that are really important in terms of how you move towards the future and how you developed sensibly and sustainably.

Priority six is equity through public assessment.

You're doing that now.

What else do we want to do?

How do we want to continue growing the city, growing the population, making sure that we're set up for success, you know, in one, five, ten, twenty, thirty years from now.

And the last priority is community connection and belonging.

We want people that love it here to stay here, want people to know that Joliet is a great place and to move here.

Um, and we want to make sure that we're connected to each other as we're doing this work.

So, number six says investing in all neighborhoods.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

It's investing in all neighborhoods.

So think about these, you don't have to have an answer now.

These are ideas.

Um, and we'd like you to have to help us understand what these priorities mean as we move into the next phase of the project and how we want to.

I mean, a couple things we can do.

Um, one is rank them, and we will be doing this in our next workshop.

Which one of these should we focus on first, second, third, fourth?

Um, right now they are in random order.

These are just, you know, we pick these out.

The second thing is if there are thoughts, ideas, and feelings that you have that we haven't talked about yet.

This next phase is the right time to do that because we're going to start talking about the how in the next chat in the next phase of this.

So that's that's your homework between now and our next advisory committee meeting.

Um this is just a blip of where we are, where we're going.

So we are starting phase uh three.

Um the little arrows at the top, I think should move a month or so.

But um, we're going to be starting this is our December advisory committee meeting.

Um we are going to be starting working groups in December and January, and then we're planning for a February public workshop.

Um, and then key recommendations will happen uh for that duration as well, concurrent to the workshops capturing the outcomes of the working groups as well as any other comments that we're receiving on this document.

That's all I got today.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um thank you, Leslie.

Sure.

Briag.

Next agenda item is the upcoming thematic workshops.

So just a reminder starting Monday and on Tuesday, we have our first set of workshops.

The first is the housing and neighborhoods workshop.

Um all the workshops again are here at City Hall Council Chambers.

They all start at 6 30 p.m.

And we are encouraging people to pre-register.

This is on the city's uh website on the project web page again.

How you could pre-register.

Um I know people have asked for individual um invitations, and what you Diana, um, we are hoping to get that to you this week to push those out for the the workshops that haven't um that aren't immediately coming up.

Um we are pushing this out in other ways.

Um, so encourage people who are interested and um passionate about these topic areas to come to these workshops and and so just so you know that I have myself and um Francisco's been helping me with the workshops.

We are we have met with the housing and neighborhoods co-leaders as well as the transportation mobility co-leaders.

So um I will be meeting with the other co-leaders for the different um workshops too, which is um or the priorities to get these two off and going, which are already Monday and Tuesday of next week, and be talking about those after this meeting.

Um questions at this time about the upcoming workshops.

Yes, yeah, just I'm just curious how how are the attendants looking at display.

Um I don't have the I guess the numbers are at this point in time.

Yeah, I know the housing, well, I can say the housing one, I think last week we talked about had 30 or signed up or more.

I don't remember the exact number, but it's you know that's not bad.

Yeah, we're talking to the realtors tomorrow.

Jane's gonna attend our uh Zoom meeting for government affairs and reaffirm the importance of members coming out and to share it with their networks too.

Yeah, gotcha.

And then it in the end uh is it kind of the thought that the leaders of each group are kind of driving um their attendance for those, or how is that?

Yes, I mean we are we are all leaning on each other to push out the message and to if you think someone would really add value to the workshops, please encourage them to come.

Yep.

Be a leader, Chris.

I'll try.

Any other questions about the workshops?

Yeah, all right.

Well, then I'm gonna move on to staff report.

So I just have a couple things.

Um first is that there's we city will be working with Dr.

Rouse to do a special, I wouldn't call it a workshop, it's a round table with the uh area superintendents of high school districts and grade school districts, as well as um parochial schools to talk about the implications of land use, um housing, and you know, some workforce economic development.

So that is it's been scheduled for January 9th, and it's a breakfast um meeting, and we're excited to to do that to really make sure we're responding to our families and students and districts in all parts of the city.

Um two is we are scheduling public workshop number two that is going to occur in February.

I did send an email out to everyone, maybe it was maybe was yesterday or the day before honing in on some dates, and I've heard back from seven people as of this morning about you know if they could attend any of the dates that were suggested.

Um I I did hear and and looking at you now, Jen.

Specifically, I want to know is there any major conflicts too with some of these suggested evenings, which Jen pointed out that February 24th is off now at this point because that's the Chamber of Commerce's um annual awards event, so we will not be um focusing on that evening for a public workshop.

So we will not be um focusing on that evening for a public workshop.

So we just also we had wanted to do the second workshop at Juliet Central High School.

I have communicated with JTHS and Juliet Central High School cannot accommodate a workshop in February do it due to construction that's going on right there at the student center area.

So we have landed on the Joliet Library as the alternate location for public workshop number two.

It will likely be they had two dates available, so it'll probably be either February 11th or 26th.

So we are um continuing to hone in on probably one of those two dates.

So I'll send a reminder email out to those who haven't filled out the um the poll about dates, so we could focus in on those two at the at that point in time.

Um that's all I have for my staff comments.

Does anyone have any questions for me related to those two things?

Yes, yeah, good question.

Downtown library in the burnham room, second floor.

Okay.

Um next would be member comments.

Does anyone have anything to share for the group?

I do.

And it's it's somewhat related, I think, to our conference of plan because it's about development.

So we're getting closer on our two new junior highs.

Um we'll be setting ribbon cutting dates uh for the week of August 10th.

Um I'll make sure everybody knows it'll be widely broadcast.

But we're also scheduling on April 18th from 10 to 12 community open houses at both the old Hufford and the old Gompers for people to have a chance to come and like walk through one last time, you know.

Uh we're gonna try to have some students there to be guides to walk with small groups around the buildings.

Um we figured that two hour stretch that people wanted to hit both buildings, they have plenty of time.

Um it's just to come walk through and and go.

So we're those will we're gonna be widely uh putting that out to the community.

What's happening to the buildings?

The old buildings will be torn down, the new buildings are being built right next door to them.

Um, and they're gonna be fabulous.

So and then will the old buildings, the land will just will it be open space or is there something that will be built there?

The um they're either athletic fields or parking lots, depending on what the need is at the building.

So um Hufford will end up with a um full competition size um track.

Um, so we'll have that capacity, and at Gompers there'll be a um competition size soccer field um that will be put in over there.

Both buildings will be the new buildings will be functioning on geothermal heating and cooling.

Um so we've already done the well drilling over at Hufford.

We're gonna be doing the well drilling at Gompers once the old building comes down.

That will save us up to 70 percent, they're saying on our utility bills, which is going to be fabulous.

Um and we're gonna be uh I actually started some conversation last night with somebody on the arts commission.

I want to get some local artists involved with looking at um the the wall, the outside walls of the gymnasiums are great campuses for murals.

So I'm I'm gonna be connecting with the arts commission to get some local artists involved to do some conceptual drawings for us of what they would want to do, how we could maybe incorporate students in helping with that to get those murals up and going as well.

Um if you haven't been by Gompers, we're using the new gym now.

It's been amazing.

Everybody loves it.

Every athletic team in the area wants to come do their middle school games there because it's the brand new shiny thing, right?

Um but the other piece of our referendum included an addition onto Jefferson Elementary of a gymnasium and four additional classrooms.

That work will begin with groundbreaking on the last day of school on June 1st.

Um, and the construction will begin hot and heavy over the summer with a one-year completion of that.

So we're going out to bid for contractors in April, I believe, is the is the time.

So keep your eye out.

Um, but uh so that's we're moving along on all of that development.

Um so in the Jefferson Elementary, that's over on uh Glenwood.

So if you're not familiar with where that's at.

So they'll get a full-size gymnasium and four additional classrooms along the right side of the building.

And um, we're actually building a um parking lot in the back part of there that will have a way for drop-off and pickup of students in the car rider line to get it off Glenwood.

And on to, because it's it's yeah, it's it's a challenge.

Yes, it's a challenge over there.

So we're the the that process will help as well.

So we're doing trying to do our part to help out with those things.

So the goal to have those all done.

Um everything can be done with all three of those projects by June 30th or 27th when I'm retiring from the district.

So yay.

So it's all good.

Can I come out?

Oh lacquer from coppers.

Your gym lockers at the hall.

The gymers are already being already in use.

Oh, over there, yeah.

So we we donated those so they could use them at the training facility.

So yeah, yeah.

So we also unfortunately are going to be because of declining enrollment.

We are um gonna be starting to host public hearings this month, next month, and in February um uh Marshall Elementary.

Um right now our enrollment there is we're only at 32% capacity of the building.

Um it does not make sense to keep a building uh that that old that um challenging to maintain um functioning with only 32% capacity.

I could move all of those children right now over four blocks over to Singleton and Singleton only be at 74% capacity.

Wow.

So our enrollment has declined.

When I first came, we were at 12,000 students, we're at 9100 right now.

Um, and it's birthrights.

So um there's there's uh and that's a nationwide issue with birth rights, but so we um the board would be we're do the three public hearings, and the board would be having to make a decision on closing marshall at the February board meeting.

Um wouldn't close until the end of the school year.

Um but there's there's right around 200 students there currently.

Um so yeah, but we have the capacity at the newer facility over at Singleton to take them in, so I could move them today and not have a problem, but we'll finish the year.

So anyway, so that's some school district economic development that's on the table.

I think it's good stuff, yeah.

So tremendous leadership, thank you.

Thank you.

So uh Jane, the only thing that I have is that the East and Southeast Regional Alliance, we're having our meeting the same night as uh the second workshop.

So our December uh Christmas celebration is December 9th, and it's the exact same time, 6 30.

Yeah.

Anyone from your organization who could still come.

I can talk about that.

I can chat.

Yeah.

But you're gonna be at housing, right?

I will be at housing.

Yeah.

Um, so uh a lot of the businesses on Ruby, Cass Collins are struggling right now.

So during the holidays, please consider supporting our local small businesses.

Um host your holiday luncheons there at some of our local restaurants.

Um, and next week we're starting an initiative called Lunch with Lera.

So um trying to encourage our local leaders to come in and have lunch at the different restaurants um that are part of our network that have told us that they're struggling a bit right now.

So we're trying to drive more customers their way.

So our first one is Damages Carina on Ohio Street on Wednesday at 12.

If y'all could please join us next Wednesday, that would be amazing.

Um we'll I'll send out personal invitations as well.

Um, but um, we're trying to start this initiative so that way we could get our communities to start posting um the different small businesses in our area and try to drive in more customers and this can all be found on Facebook.

Yes, great.

Excellent.

Okay, anyone else?

All right, next to be public comment.

Anyone here?

No?

Okay.

Anyone here would like to address the committee under public comment?

All right, see none.

Sounds to me like uh everybody has uh contributed everything they wanted to or need to this morning.

So we'd call for a motion to adjourn.

I heard a so move from Caesar Caesar.

Second from me, second from Lane.

We can do it all in favor, signified by aye.

Those are both signified by all as well.