Carbondale, Illinois
Comprehensive Plan

Camiros, Ltd. was commissioned to update Carbondale's 1979 Comprehensive Plan. Due to the location of Southern Illinois University and the vast number of medical facilities within the community, the city developed into a regional center for southern Illinois. Carbondale exercised its planning jurisdiction over a one and a half-mile fringe area beyond their corporate boundary, primarily because Jackson and Williamson Counties did not administer a zoning ordinance. The planning efforts by the city were continually complicated by the multi-governmental jurisdictions within the community providing local services. The plan sought to address these and other planning issues faced by the community, including the preservation and rehabilitation of neighborhoods, encouragement of infill development and promotion of economic development within the industrial park and along Illinois Route 13, through a set of policies and programs which would guide current and future development.

Camiros worked extensively with the public and community officials to develop the comprehensive plan. Two workshops and monthly meetings were held with the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, as well as focus group meetings, key person interviews, public forums and open houses. These meetings helped to create the "vision" for the city, defining how and where development should occur throughout the city and its planning jurisdiction. The goals, objectives and policies created to achieve this vision emphasized limiting sprawl by encouraging development in the interior of the city, continuing the promotion of Carbondale as a regional center, protection of single family neighborhoods, reinvestment in the existing downtown businesses, continuing to build a partnership with Southern Illinois University and promotion of on-going communication and coordination with other governmental bodies, public agencies and other service providers.

There were areas in Carbondale which posed certain challenges and opportunities which the city staff felt needed more in-depth study. To address the planning issues and capitalize on the opportunities, four subarea plans were developed, providing a detailed analysis of each area. Three of the areas - Crab Orchard Estates, Walnut/Lewis/Grand/Giant City Superblock, and West Central - were neighborhoods where land use and zoning recommendations, development policies, site design and physical improvements were suggested. For the fourth subarea, the Pedestrian and Bikeway System, Camiros provided policy suggestions, and possible destinations and linkages for the development of a bikeway/pedestrian path around the community.