A recent “Issues Update” from the city outlined the difficulty city staff is having getting participation in the Comprehensive Planning process from certain segments of the community:

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN SURVEY – PRELIMINARY RESULTS. As part of the Comprehensive Plan re-write process, the City made an online survey available to the public in order to help gauge levels of interest and importance for various public services. A copy of the preliminary report was presented in Issues Update last week. The preliminary results were presented to the Planning Commission at their April 16, 2008 meeting. During the presentation, several of the commissioners had questions related to the percentage of response from several areas and groups. Specifically, the response rate from the African-American community was significantly below the relative percentage of Peoria’s population. The response rate from the 1st Council District was also below the proportional population amount. Several steps were taken by City staff to provide direct outreach before the launch of the survey, and in anticipation of difficulty reaching some population groups. Additional outreach efforts were made as the survey results were received.

Some of these outreach efforts included:

• Partnership with the Peoria Public Library to make computers and assistance available to anyone wanting to take the online survey in a library.
• The placement of two of the three “Help Plan Peoria” billboards in areas of the city that were anticipated to have low response rates.
• Direct mailings to all faith based organizations in Peoria, requesting that an encouragement be placed in bulletins or newsletters requesting participation in the survey.
• Direct mailings to all neighborhood associations, neighborhood watch, and business watch groups encouraging them to have their association members participate in the survey.
• Direct outreach to the Black Chamber of Commerce and the African American Contractors Association requesting that they encourage their members to participate.
• The provision of 250 paper surveys with self addressed stamped envelopes to residents of the Southside in response from a community leader in that area.
• A recorded telephone message from the mayor targeted to areas of low response requesting participation in the survey.
• The placement of “Help Plan Peoria” posters on several CityLink buses.
• Placement of ads in the Traveler Newspaper.

Despite all those efforts, survey results show only 58 of the survey takers identified themselves as living in the first district, and only 29 described themselves as African Americans.

This is the second attempt at gaining input from citizens. The first one was through a series of public meetings that were so poorly attended that the City decided to cancel the second round of meetings and instead go with the online survey. The survey saw increased participation, but only from certain groups (including a lot of people who live outside the city). So, getting citizen input appears to have been a bit of a struggle.

The Issues Update went on to say:

Although the online survey has been closed at this point, there is still ample opportunity for participation in the Comprehensive Plan process. A series of Public Hearings will begin at the May Planning Commission meeting, and will continue on a monthly basis through September or October of 2008. At each of these meetings, City staff will present recommendations to the Commission, and the Commission will accept public comment and testimony on the recommendations. Further, any resident can call the Planning Department at 494-8600 with comments related to the Comprehensive Plan and the future of Peoria, or send a comment via email to planning@ci.peoria.il.us A detailed listing of future public meetings related to the Comprehensive Plan will be distributed in a future Issues Update.

What’s surprising to me about this whole process is that no consultant — no city planning expert — was called in to help. Not that I think we need a consultant to do every little thing. But this is no little thing.

Consider that we’ve hired a consultant to do a traffic study for the west bluff. We hired a consultant to develop the Heart of Peoria Plan and write the Land Development Code, both of which covered about 8,000 acres of the city. We hired a consultant to help us with the CSO project. We had Caterpillar come in to provide Six Sigma training. We’re likely going to hire a consultant to do an engineering study for the Kellar Branch rail/trail issue.

But for the City’s Comprehensive Plan — the guiding document that will define our public policy direction on everything from land use to transportation for the whole entire city for the next 20 years — we think we don’t need any outside help for that? We have all the expertise we need in house, even though we evidently don’t have it for any of the other, comparatively smaller things I just listed? If the City can’t figure out a way to engage all the stakeholders and get adequate representation from all parts of the city, how will they be able to put together a comprehensive plan that will address the needs of the whole community?

This plan is too important to be one of the few initiatives on which we try to save money by not hiring an expert to assist us. This isn’t the Developer’s Handbook, it’s the Comprehensive Plan! The future of our City will be guided by this document. It’s imperative that we get this one right.

Ross Black, Assistant Planning Director for the City of Peoria, has released the results of the Comprehensive Plan online survey. You can read the summary results here (PDF file); more details will be released in the near future.

Take a look at them and tell me what you think. Here are some things I thought were interesting or notable:

• The one-to-ten scale is inverted — lower numbers indicate higher satisfaction or importance and vice versa.
• They’re still saying that lower scores indicate that something is “not important.” I think that’s misleading, as I’ve explained in this earlier post.
• Survey-takers’ satisfaction with Peoria as a place to live is decidedly middling: 4.2. In other words, “so-so.”
• Not surprising was that the top two districts to respond to the survey were the fifth and second districts (29% and 21%, respectively).
• Very surprising was how many people took the survey who don’t even live in Peoria (18%) — they were actually the third highest group! Gee, thanks for the input, interlopers. I suppose one could make the argument that these are people who have businesses or rental properties in the city, but who personally live outside the city. If so, then the high percentage is even more disturbing.
• Lowest district representation: first (5%). This is not surprising. The first district includes predominantly lower-income residents, many of whom presumably cannot afford computers and internet access, and even if they can, don’t have the time to spend filling out surveys. There are also a lot of renters who presumably would not have as much interest in the city’s comprehensive planning process. Many may also just simply feel disenfranchised — like nobody cares about their opinions anyway.
• 93% of respondents were white, 5% were black, 1% were Asian, 1% were “other,” and less than 1% were Native American. According to the 2000 census, 69.3% of Peorians were white, 24.8% were black, 2.3% were Asian, less than 1% were “American Indian.”
• The higher the income, the more people responded. 80% of respondents had a household income of over $50,000. 20% of respondents had household income less than $50,000. Median household income in 1999, according to the census: $36,397.
• 35% of respondents would “like to live within walking distance from downtown and the riverfront.” That’s a little more than one out of every three respondents — a significant number.
• The number one item under Public Health and Human Services: “Provide youth services that guide children toward good behavior.” Wow. Apparently it takes a government to raise a child. When I was a kid, we had parents to guide children toward good behavior. Now we need “youth services” provided by the city.

Your turn. What are your thoughts on the results?

Suppose I told you I was taking a survey, and I wanted you to rank the following four things:

• family
• freedom
• health
• justice

Now here are the rules: You have to rank them “1,” “2,” “3,” and “4.” You can’t rank them all as “1.” You have to rank them from “1” (most important) to “4” (least important).

You may object that they’re all important, and that you can’t imagine calling any one of them “least important.” But then suppose I assured you that we just wanted to see what was most important to the survey takers so we could set budget priorities. You begrudgingly agree, figuring that I have a good reason for setting up the survey this way and will use the results responsibly.

Then suppose I published the results this way: “Items considered important to survey-takers: freedom, justice. Items not considered important to survey-takers: health, family.” Do you feel like that would be an accurate characterization of your (and the other survey-takers’) feelings about those items? Or would you feel that your feelings are a bit misrepresented?

Well, that’s how I felt when I saw how the Comprehensive Plan survey results were being reported to the city council. The survey has several lists of items that survey-takers are required to rank from most to least important. The results were printed this way in a recent communication to the council:

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN SURVEY UPDATE. As of Wednesday, February 13, 912 online surveys have been completed and the www.planpeoria.com web site has received over 1800 visits.

Some of the results of the survey so far include:

• Three most important services
• Public Safety
• Public Education
• Economic Development
• Three services areas with the highest level of satisfaction
• Public Safety
• Public Health
• Recreation, Culture, and Natural Resources
• Who’s Responding
• 29% from the 61614 zip code
• 24% from the 61604 zip code
• 19% from the 61615 zip code
• Top choices for amenities within walking distance from your home
• Parks
• Grocery Stores
• Schools
• Amenities not considered important to have within walking distance
• Work
• Restaurants
• Top items that should be required as part of all new residential development
• Sidewalks
• Street lighting
• Underground utilities
• Items not considered important as part of new residential development
• Required design standards
• Required landscaping
• Required building materials
• Top items that would make an “ideal neighborhood”
• Safety
• Good public infrastructure
• Good schools
• Resale value of homes
• Well maintained houses and yards
• Items not considered as important to an “idea neighborhood”
• Proximity to retail
• Neighborhood associations
• High density
• Proximity to employment
• 36% of respondents would like to live within walking distance from downtown and the riverfront
• Preferred type of neighborhood
• 62% Single Family only
• 14% Single family & duplex / townhouse
• 2.5% Single family, duplex / townhouse, & apartments
• 22% Mixed use; all of the above plus retail

Interesting results, which is why I printed them in full. But I take exception to the sections that state certain items are “not considered important” or even “not considered as important.” Considering that survey-takers had no choice but to mark some items as “least important” on a sliding scale, and considering that all the items on the list were important, I don’t think this accurately describes the results.

I don’t know how the final results will be presented, but if this is any indication, I shudder to think what kind of conclusions the council will draw when they see that required design standards are “not considered important” just because sidewalks and streetlights were ranked higher on a forced scale.

Peoria is in the middle of updating its Comprehensive Plan — a road map document that the City Council and staff will use to make planning and zoning decisions over the next 15-20 years. The city wants your input. They’ve set up a website to provide you with information and a survey for you to complete so they can get information from you.

Here’s an update on the process that I received from the City today:

In less than one week, the www.planpeoria.com web site has received over 1,000 visitors and the online survey has been completed by more than 650 people. The majority of the survey respondents are from the 5th and 2nd Council Districts, and from the 61614 and 61604 zip codes. At this point, Public Safety has ranked the highest in level of importance and in level of satisfaction. The survey will continue to be available until March 21, 2008.

Incidentally, I attended the Zoning Commission meeting last night, and I’m happy to report that the current Comprehensive Plan was followed for all three items I heard (I left before the meeting was over). On the other hand, the votes were all 3-2, so the Plan was followed by a narrow majority.

From an e-mail reminder I received:

The first in a series of Comprehensive Plan Workshops will be held this Thursday, May 3 starting at 5:30 p.m.

The Workshop will be held in the Twin Towers building, 456 Fulton St., suite 420.

The topic for this Workshop is Housing & Neighborhoods.

I hope there’s a lot of participation and that all parts of Peoria are represented. What comes out of these meetings will affect you if you live in Peoria, so I would encourage everyone to make it out to the meeting tonight so your voice can be heard.

The City is embarking on an 18-month process to completely rewrite Peoria’s Comprehensive Plan, and you can be a part of it! There will be a number of community workshops and public hearings held so the Planning Commission and Planning & Growth Department can get as much public input as possible. If you’ve ever wanted to have a say in what the city’s vision should be or where the city is going, this is your chance. Here’s an informational flyer on it.

I know you’re all just dying to know the history of the Comprehensive Plan, so here it is from the 1973 Comprehensive Plan:

Planning in Peoria

As the city has grown, so has the planning process. The need for planning was first recognized in the late 1920’s with the “City Beautiful” movement being the stimulus.

On November 1, 1927, the City Council passed an ordinance creating a City Planning and Zoning Commission under the State Enabling Act approved June 24, 1921. On December 22, 1927, a contract was drawn for a “Comprehensive City and Regional Plan” to be done by Harland Bartholomew and Associates of St. Louis, Missouri. The plan was finally completed and adopted on March 15, 1932, and was entitled “A Comprehensive City Plan.” The planning process was only in its infancy in those days and the plan made certain recommendations but in respect to land use did little more than recognize what was existing.

The Commission remained intact and processed zoning requests and subdivision plats, but there was never a technically trained staff until a Planning Director was hired in 1958. In 1959 the staff began a Master Plan Study to obtain the needed guidance on such diversified matters as zoning, urban renewal, highway locations, utilization of future land use, and many other issues. The plan was completed in 1960 and entitled Planning Peoria… A Master Plan Report.

The annexation of nearly all of Richwoods Township in December of 1964 increased the emphasis on long range planning. The annexed area contained approximately 30,000 people but its ultimate capacity was projected at nearly 100,000. The chance to guide future growth lead to the developing of neighborhood future land use maps, the updating of the subdivision and zoning ordinances, the thoroughfare plan, and a number of background studies. The Long Range Planning Section was increased in 1971 and a scheduled program was begun to produce a completely new plan to replace the 1960 plan. This is the culmination of that effort.

The 1932 plan they mentioned was actually passed by the City Council in pieces between 1927 and 1932. The complete plan was published in 1937 along with an executive summary under separate cover. Both these documents are available at the Peoria Public Library (reference only). It’s interesting to peek into the minds of planners in 1937 Peoria by reading the executive summary, titled, “Planning a Greater Peoria”:

Why a City Plan?

Peoria grew, as did the majority of American cities, without planning for the future. AS cities grew larger and began to review the results of their labors, they were appalled to realize the harm resulting from planless haste. Streets had been laid haphazardly, existing streets were too narrow to care for the traffic demand, houses had been built so close together as to exclude air and sun. People soon discovered that their cities were neither efficient nor attractive, and realized that if they were to save their investments something must be done, not only to correct past mistakes but to see that such mistakes never again occurred.

What is a City Plan?

The demand for comprehensive city planning, which aims to bring about order in the physical development of the entire city, was the result of such realization. City planning is that phase of municipal activity which analyzes the character and probable extent of urban growth, suggests certain physical readjustments, and provides for the proper development and coordination of all future improvements. Properly administered it will make possible the gradual and economical development of an efficient, healthful, attractive city, free from the physical defects that hamper business and living conditions. City planning is essentially concerned with the physical elements of cities rather than with legislative and administrative matters. In brief, it provides a long-term program for physical improvements instead of the usual aimless and haphazard growth. Several thousand people may have some excellent ideas about the development of the city, but unless all ideas are brought together and properly revised and coordinated in a single comprehensive plan, it is impossible to expect anything but chaos in the city’s growth. The city plan is a beneficial instrument affecting the lives of all inhabitants, and should transcend all selfish consideration.

Fast-forward seventy-five years and, while the 1932 plan was not executed exactly as proposed, the fundamental concepts were incorporated into all subsequent plans: wider streets, less density for residential areas, and adoption of the first zoning ordinance for Peoria, beginning the regrettable process of strictly segregating land uses. The same concepts were perpetuated in the 1973 plan, which covered the newly-expanded city that was doubled in size by the annexation of Richwoods Township.

We’ve seen those plans come to fruition, and the result is not the “efficient, healthful, attractive city” we were promised. As a result, the Heart of Peoria Plan, adopted in principle by the City Council in 2002, completely reversed the plan put in motion seventy years earlier, at least for the HOP Plan area.

A lot of citizens were involved and a lot of work was done to put that HOP Plan together, but it only covered 8,000 acres of the city — more or less everything south of War Memorial Drive. The Comprehensive Plan (as its name indicates) covers the entire city, which stretches north practically all the way to Dunlap today. This document that will be created between now and the end of next year is going to be “the guiding document for development over the next ten to twenty years.” What’s our vision for the rest of the city?

Remember, the City is going to go by the public input they get from these meetings — if you don’t go and express your opinion or your wishes, the City won’t hear you and they won’t take your voice into account. So, it’s up to you. The future of Peoria is in your hands.