Joliet takes action on comprehensive plan and beautification project – Shaw Local

Joliet is set to become a more beautiful and better planned city following actions taken by the City Council on Tuesday.

The City Council approved a $542,000 beautification project aimed at beautifying key city sites and contracted two firms for $703,000 to implement the first comprehensive plan for Joliet since the 1950s.

Citizens are expected to see the results of the beautification project this summer, when the city will clean and beautify 13 entryways with perennials that will create a visual impact that will last through the winter and beyond.

City Councilman Joe Clement said the beautification project addresses a need expressed for years by residents who have complained about too many weeds and other eyesores at Joliet’s entrances.

“I don’t think this goes far enough, but at least we are taking the initiative and doing what people are saying we need to do,” Clement said.

The improvements to the entrance area are a goal set by Mayor Terry D’Arcy during his campaign for mayor in 2023.

D’Arcy said the improvements would help give Joliet a new image, commenting on a meeting with a developer in the city who remarked, “It’s just Joliet.”

“Man, did he make me mad,” D’Arcy said, adding that spending on landscape improvements is aimed at improving the city’s image. “These investments are great for the city, great for hiring.”

D’Arcy also pushed for the introduction of a comprehensive plan, although that project began before he became mayor. The city had hired a planner to develop a comprehensive plan in 2019, but the project was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic because it required public meetings, which became impossible.

On Tuesday, the council resumed the process by approving a $564,250 contract with the Lamar Johnson Collaborative to develop a comprehensive plan and a $138,768 contract with Urban3 to provide an economic analysis of the plan’s impacts.

Developing a comprehensive plan is a long-term process that can take up to two years.

City Councilman Cesar Guerrero noted that the comprehensive plan is a “monumental” project for the city that will have “impacts for decades.”

This is also demanded by the citizens, said city councilor Susanna Ibarra.

“Other than truck traffic, this is the only thing the public wants,” Ibarra said, noting that the public’s complaints about trucks coincide with demands for better development planning in Joliet.

Like the last attempt to develop a comprehensive plan that was thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this effort will focus on public participation in shaping the city’s future.

“The most important thing is to invite the public to see what they really want,” Ibarra said.

The consultants for the master plan were upgraded by a vote of 8 to 1. Councilman Larry Hug objected. While he was in favor of the plan, he believed the council should be more involved in selecting the planners.

The vote was 9-0 in favor of the beautification project.