Planning Commission

 The Planning Commission meets next Wednesday night at 6 p.m. to take more public comments regarding updating the city's comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan is more important than you might think as the city is supposed to follow the plan's dictates when making decisions and members of the community have used past versions of the plan to dissuade the city from developing a project that ran counter to it.

Call to Order and Roll Call

2. Approval of Minutes: None

3. Citizen Comments and Questions

4. Report of Officers, Committees, Communications

5. Public Hearings/Plan Review

PC 25-13: Continuation of a public hearing to take testimony and make recommendations to City

Council regarding the City’s Comprehensive Plan update

Planning Meeting

 The Planning Commission meets tonight at 6 p.m in the Civic Center.  Not much on the agenda save discussing updates to the Comprehensive Plan. Incidentally, the comprehensive plan can be useful should city council want to enact something in variance from it.  When the council, in the past, has wanted to take an action that deviated from the plan, residents came before the council and pointed out that said proposal was in variance from the plan, which caused the council to drop that proposal. 

Call to Order and Roll Call

2. Approval of Minutes: March 26th, 2025 and May 14th, 2025

3. Citizen Comments and Questions

4. Report of Officers, Committees, Communications

5. Public Hearings/Plan Review

PC 25-13: Public hearing to take testimony and make recommendations to City Council regarding

the City’s Comprehensive Plan update

6. Old Business

None

7. New Business

Plan Carbondale

 In case you want to get involved with developing a vision for the future of Carbondale , you can sign up here for the Big Ideas workshop on November 11. which will work on developing yet another comprehensive plan. The focus needs to be on SIUC and ways to grow attendance there. If SIUC grows, Carbondale grows.

Steering Committee

 If you want to help develop the next comprehensive plan for Carbondale, the steering committee is now seeking members. I still have a copy of the last comprehensive plan on my shelves someplace and it has been used by citizens to point out when the city is proposing a program that appears to veer away from the plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARBONDALE -

Do you love Carbondale? Do you have ideas about how Carbondale could continue to thrive? If so, you have an opportunity to be involved in shaping the City of Carbondale’s future. Since the 2010 plan, Carbondale has evolved, along with market preferences. Now is the time to update the plan to reflect the changes the city is experiencing and set a positive course of action for the future.  

The City of Carbondale is calling all interested applicants to apply to serve as a volunteer member of the Steering Committee for the updated comprehensive plan for the City. As a member of the committee, you will help bring insight and perspective to the planning process and ensure that the community’s voice and vision are a central part of the plan. 

We are seeking committee members who are connected to our broader community. Whether you are a long-time resident, a business owner, student, or someone who simply loves Carbondale, your perspective is valuable. This is an exciting opportunity to work with fellow community members and city leaders to create a plan that will guide Carbondale towards a vibrant and prosperous future for years to come! 

The application process will close on Friday, August 9th. 

We encourage you to join your fellow community members in this exciting opportunity. If you have any questions, please reach out to Carbondale’s Senior Planner, Molly Maxwell at mmaxwell@carbondaleil.gov. 

Click the link here: https://forms.gle/cgEocw4KteJkwort5 to apply! The application can also be found on the City’s website, www.explorecarbondale.com, under Permits and Applications. A printed application can be completed at the front desk at City Hall.  

Carbondale 2030 Goal 1

 Here is Goal 1 from the Carbondale 2030 strategic plan:

Goal 1:  Provide a high quality-of-life and foster a sense of community. 

Strategic Initiatives

  Create a subsidy for internet, modem, installation costs, and fees to make broadband more affordable to residents. --Good. With the federal government's subsidy for internet for low income households expiring, this would be a real boon to them. Households qualifying under the federal program received $30 a month towards covering internet service and from what I have read, that was a real help.

 Continue to improve parks and recreation for those parks that are the City’s responsibility.-- I have seen some needed improvements at Marbury Arboretum, which really needs greater publicity and families use Turley Park on a regular basis.

  Conduct more year-round community-oriented programs for youth/young adults.  Continue supporting programs like the Boys and Girls Club and operations at the Eurma C. Hayes Center. --Also good, though maybe matching funding for each rather than an annual stipend. One complaint I have heard about Carbondale, among many, is that the city does not have much for youth to do. The Park District had a BMX track at one time, remnants still are by Evergreen Terrace, and there was a push for a skate park several years ago. Slabz, downtown, shows there is demand for a skate park and one accessible and outside would give youth another option for entertainment. 

 Publicize the positive aspects of Carbondale being proactive, using social media, and embracing the diverse nature of the community.  Establish a social media content team to promote all city departments and services. --Yep, Carbondale is the most diverse community in southern Illinois. I have had customers at the store tell me they moved here because of its diversity. Embrace it and let people know about it.

 Partner with civic organizations to improve the aesthetics of the entire community and the westend welcoming corridor into Carbondale.-- Good lord yes. All 4 approaches to Carbondale are ugly, though the trees and median on the east side presents the best appearance. Still, coming in from the west and east, the visitor sees freestanding businesses and strip malls, not as bad as Marion but still, they look as if they have just been dropped there. Murals are an improvement but we need colorful ones greeting people as they come to town, not just maroon and white Saluki murals . The north entrance is urban blight but could be improved with another sign welcoming people to the city and more plantings, as could the south end.

 Fully fund and publicize incentives for home ownership.--Yes, publicize the programs the city has to convert rentals into owner occupied units as well as funding for repairing homes owned by lower income residents. 

  Consider implementing a summer jobs program for youth/young adults --Consider or implement? Thinking about doing one meets this initiative but does not accomplish anything. Good program though. Maybe summer trash cleanup, especially along the entry ways to town.

Consultant Comment

Interesting comment from our consultants that are drafting the downtown Carbondale comprehensive plan, a blog reader pointed out. From the Southern:

Committee Member D. Gorton said he would like to see the two-way traffic on Illinois Avenue at least remain a possibility.

Fellow Committee Member and Longbranch Café Owner Elaine Ramseyer said the U.S. 51 street being controlled by the city is a critical move, and she would hate to see the plan not recommend it.

“So many things hinge on that,” she said.

The committee has mentioned in the past that if the city had control of Illinois Avenue, it could host city festivals and events when it wanted instead of being granted permission from the Illinois Department of Transportation. Also, a desire to slow down traffic has been a concern on the busy road.

Nik Davis of Houseal Lavigne said the doors aren’t completely closed on obtaining ownership of the street, but it didn’t make sense under current conditions to recommend it. He said the group would recommend taking out a parking lane at the very least, plus possibly a bike lane and the ability to have outdoor dining because of accessibility laws.

“I would hate to put something in this document just because people really want it,” Davis said. “We didn’t hear two-way conversion from the community. We heard more about access to easier parking.”

Why in the world would you not put something in the document that people want? I assume Davis means that no-one brought up two way traffic on Illinois but since it has been a topic of conversation for over a year, it is rather surprising that he didn't hear anything about it.

Downtown Master Plan

Courtesy of Jane Adams, here is a copy of Houseal Lavigne Associates' draft of the downtown master plan for Carbondale. The Downtown Advisory Committee will discuss it next Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at the Civic Center.

Downtown Master Plan Committee Meets

Tomorrow night at 6 p.m. I have heard quite a bit of talk recently about a proposal to make University Avenue a two street and shift Highway 51 over there, rather than have 51 split onto University and Illinois Avenues as it passes through downtown.

From what I have heard from people who have lived here far longer than I, the reason for splitting 51 onto two one way streets was the amount of truck traffic using 51 both north and southbound. Having all those trucks funneled down a single two way street not only damaged the pavement, meaning more frequent street repairs, but also made driving and walking in downtown much more dangerous, since large trucks bore down from both directions. Unless a solution is proposed to deal with those problems, the current street layout is likely best for now.

Both the Endswell development in the Walnut Street Baptist Church building and the Carbondale Flats project will strain downtown parking more. From what I have heard, the research done by Tartan, the Carbondale Flats developer, indicates that the parking developments for that area will be enough to satisfice the needs of Carbondale Flats residents. However, there appears no plan in place for any additional parking for the residents of the building. With Civic Center parking already tight for events, something will need to be done.

Trains, trucks, busses, bikes and automobiles are up for discussion at the next meeting of the Downtown Advisory Committee. Increase parking lots or build parking garages? Two way streets on Illinois and University? Slow down traffic? Close off the street for festivals? Too many trucks? Angle parking in front of businesses?  Bike lanes…what about handicapped?

We’re discussing ANY question or idea you have about the Downtown Carbondale streets. We will share the latest information about developments from IDOT and other agencies. Come at 6:00 p.m. for informal conversation with members of the Committee.

Press are welcome to mingle and interview during the informal gathering at 6:00 p.m.

The theme of transportation modes will be presented by SIUC Sustainability Coordinator Chris Schachel. The issue of traffic flow in the downtown area will be discussed by Carbondale businessman Nathan Colombo. Parking and public safety will be addressed by Meghan Cole, Executive Director of Main Street.

We’re meeting at the old Illinois Central Depot at the corner of Main Street and Illinois Avenue on Wednesday night, September 3. The official meeting starts at 6:30 p.m., but please come early.

In the event that attendance exceeds the allowable occupancy at the Carbondale Main Street Offices, the meeting will relocate across the street in the Civic Center located at 200 South Illinois Avenue.

Agenda

 Carbondale Downtown Master Plan Advisory Committee
Agenda for Meeting of September 3, 2014 Commencing at 6:30 p.m.
Carbondale Main Street Offices at Old Train Station
Interest Area: Transportation
1. Bring to order
2. Roll Call and member/facilitator introductory remarks
3. City Staff presentation: ongoing transportation projects, actions, and plans
4. Current transportation issues as seen by the theme organizers
a. Transportation modes (Kris Schachel)
b. Flow of traffic in the downtown area (Nathan Columbo)
c. Parking and public safety (Meghan Cole)
5. Comments from the public
6. Brief recess
7. Comments from the committee members
8. Summary of major recommended actions and member selection
9. Approval of minutes
10. Review of mission statement
11. Announcement of next meeting, date, time and location
12. Adjournment
In the event that attendance exceeds the allowable occupancy at the Carbondale Main Street Offices, the meeting will relocate across the street in the Civic Center located at 200 South Illinois Avenue.

Downtown Advisory Committee Meeting

With 19 people on the Downtown Advisory Committee, I seriously doubt that anything will get accomplished beyond a lot of talking. While I believe that all involved want to improve downtown Carbondale, each person brings a different agenda/view of what they want to happen downtown and, while many of those views are congruent, they are going to different enough that bringing a final report will be difficult.I would bet we see at least one disgruntled committee member complaining about the outcome.

The size of the committee reflects the many groups that have a stake in the downtown area.

The Downtown Advisory Committee will hold its initial meeting at the Civic Center on August 20 at 6:30 PM. The session will be a broad look at the ideas that the public and members of the committee bring forward to improve our Downtown. Additional sessions will follow every two weeks, focusing on different topics such as transportation, business development, and the interface between SIU/SIH.

The last effort to develop a Downtown Master Plan for Carbondale was completed in 1989. Significant recommendations that were enacted by the City of Carbondale:  City Hall was consolidated and the new Civic Center was built.  The Town Square was rehabilitated and the Old Illinois Central Railroad Station was restored. The city implemented a railroad underpass on Mill Street that has helped alleviate long lines of traffic going east and west. 

The Carbondale City Council has directed that extensive public participation be encouraged from the residents, business owners and developers, as well as input from visitors to the city. 

“We plan to seek participation from all our constituents”, said Jack Langowski, Committee Chair. “We are scheduling a series of six or more meetings, up front, and before we engage a consulting firm.  This will allow us to develop our own local plan for the consultant to act on, and not the reverse. We don’t want an off-the-shelf plan for Downtown”.

All 18 members of the committee are volunteers who care about Carbondale and are working to generate the best plan for downtown development.  The committee also invites interested citizens to follow their progress on their web page at www.downtowncarbondale.com… and to get in touch with the committee at downtownplan@ci.carbondale.il.us

Downtown Advisory Panel

At last night's city council meeting, the mayor announced appointments to a panel advising whatever company gets the contract for developing a new Downtown Master Plan for the city.

While I am certain it is a good idea to have a plan for downtown development, I also remember the city had a comprehensive plan prepared and launched back in 2010 after 2 years of work and I do not hear much reference to it anymore.

Planning Commission Meeting

Planning Commission meets tonight at 6 p.m.  Though the agenda is pretty short:

A. PC 13-06, The City of Carbondale’s request to rezone property zoned R-1-8A, Low Density Residential; R-2.4, Medium Density Residential Four-Unit Dwelling; and BRD, Business Redevelopment
      B. PC 13-07, Proposed Amendments to Title 15 of the Carbondale Revised Code

it looks as if this is the first step in revising the zoning code so that it is more consistent and follows the city's Comprehensive Plan more closely.

Council on Fronabarger

Emailed the city council members asking for their reasoning on the choice for Lee Fronabarger to serve out the remainder of Joel Fritzler's term.  No response from Lance Jack or Corine McDaniels.  Responses from Wissmann and Fritzler were pretty short indicating that the council had discussed the candidates and come to consensus on Fronabarger.

Adams and Monty gave more detailed responses.  Both felt that they had a strong pool of candidates to choose from but the major factors they felt distinguished Fronabarger were twofold:

1.  his service on numerous city committees, both citing his current service on the city's Planning Commission giving him insight into both city and business needs.

2.  his experience and involvement in writing the recently adopted city comprehensive plan.  As the comprehensive plan became an issue in the mayoral election, with various candidates either viewing the plan as an idealistic starting point (Mahoney) or blueprint for future city action (Ritzel), Adams and Monty both felt that Fronabarger's work with the plan would be valuable as the council works to improve the quality of life in Carbondale.

In response to a followup question about lobbying for candidates for the position, no council member reported contact by any member of the community to argue for the appointment of any of the seven people to applied for the position, though several did mention the topic arising in the course of other conversation.  The closest to any active advocating for any council replacement was a letter received by the council for someone who ultimately did not submit an application for the post.

Rezoning

The proposal to rezone the area around the intersection of Old and New Hwy 51 from Rural Residential to Secondary Business has attracted quite a bit of opposition. Despite the fact that 6 people spoke in opposition to it and a petition with 70 signatures on it came before the Planning Commission last July, the Commission voted 4 to 1 in favor of the rezoning. City Council votes on the rezoning this Tuesday.

City staff recommends city council not approve the rezoning as it runs counter to the just approved Comprehensive Plan, saying:

The 2010 Comprehensive Plan designates the future land use of this area as agriculture. This is in attempt to conserve natural areas and protect them, and low density residential areas, from the encroachment of incompatible uses as well as direct future development to locations with existing infrastructure. Taking this into consideration as well as the fact that the zoning change is not necessary to maintain the operation of the dentist office, staff recommended denial of the zoning request.

Proposed Zoning Changes

From an email forwarded from the Arbor District:

Chris Wallace, the City of Carbondale’s Senior Planner, be attending the Next Neighborhood and Housing Action Group meeting, November 3^rd , 5pm, City Hall. He will present a power point on “Implementation Plans for the Comprehensive Plan”. Mr. Wallace presented this power point at the last Planning Commission Meeting. The presentation is on the City’s initial focus implementing the Comprehensive Plan—zoning ordinances. The City is in bidding process for selection of a consulting firm to assist in: restructuring and consolidating zoning districts; consistency in zoning ordinances, reviewing land use intensity system and site design standards. Please join, zoning issues are fundamental to preserving and developing safe and healthy neighborhoods.

City Council Meeting

Got to city council meeting about a hour late but apparently didn't miss much as Mayor Cole commented the first hour had been spent listening to comments by council and citizens about the comprehensive plan the city was adopting. The major concern of those citizens commenting was the concept of mixed use, fearing that an owner occupied house could have an auxiliary building the owner could rent out, but that a later owner would bend the code and rent both structures. The general consensus among council was that this could be looked at later and fixed in the zoning ordinances. Also raised by citizens was the feeling that the comprehensive plan lacked an overarching vision on moving Carbondale from a railroad town to a true university town. At this point, the mayor made an interesting comment that he hope the current occupants of Anthony Hall proved easier to work with than the revolving door of recent years. The comprehesive plan got approved unanimously, the first of several unanimous votes.

Next on the agenda was accepting the low bid of Contegra Construction for the new Public Safety Center on S. Washington, planned to open in March 2011. Councilman Haynes raised questions about enforcement of affirmative action regulations in the building and Councilman Jack requested the soon to be build west side fire station strive to come close to LEED compliance, which was not sought in the case of the public safety center. Again, an unanimous vote approved this.

Finally, the council voted, unanimously again, to approve the sale of bonds funding the public safety station. Mayor Cole made a point to note the city's rating on the bonds is AA-, which is higher than the state of Illinois' bond rating. This got the city an interest rate of 3.268%, saving the city several million in interest. According to the company assisting the city in issuing the bonds, the major reason for the high bond rating is the city's excellent financial management. Meeting recessed to go into closed session at 9:15.

Comprehensive Plan

The Planning Commission voted last week to accept the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan committee regarding the revisions to the comprehensive plan. Next step, the plan goes before the City Council on June 22 for a final vote.

The vote certainly didn't take very long as the Commission had adjourned by the time I got there about 7:30.

PC & CP

In case you're really civic minded (or really bored), the Planning Commission (PC, get it?) will meet tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in room 108 at the Civic Center. The main item on the agenda is a review and discussion of the city's comprehensive plan (CP, get.... oh never mind)

Planning Commission Meeting

Th Planning Commission meeting last night focused on the almost completed city Comprehensive Plan, presented by Mike Piersall and Chris Wallace to the commission and the sparse crowd of two. They pointed out that the current comprehensive plan was ignored by almost everyone and hadn't been updated since its unveiling in 1997. This new one is supposed to take into consideration the current state of the city and its potential development. I did note that this one is much more generalized than the 1997 version, which, for example, called for extending and linking West Mill with Chautauqua.

According to Wallace, what you see at the above link is about 90% completed, with work still needing to be done on Chapter 5, Economic Development. After that is completed, the finished plan will go before the Planning Commission for a vote in Jan. or Feb. If approved by the commission, it goes before the City Council for a vote to adopt in Feb. or March. From then on, all development within the city is supposd to be measured against the Plan, to see if said development is taking the city in the way we just spent a year determining we want to go. At least, that's what is supposed to happen. My bet is, we pay attention to the plan for about a year, then it gets put on a shelf and ignored until someone decides it's time to write another one.

Incidentally,t he other attendee at the meeting took a reference in the Plan to the city fostering entrepreneurship as an opportunity to launch into a lengthy complaint about how the city risked crushing the entrepreneurial spirit of its citizens because it had enforced the code moving the non-complying mobile homes to places where they would be in compliance. My guess is, he was looking for an opportunity to complain again about the amendment and seized on that part of the plan as a hook on which to hang his complaint.

Garden

According to this, Memorial Hospital pulled down the century old First Baptist Church to put in a garden. I could understand buying the property and pulling it down to expand the hospital and its services and that's what I thought was happening, but to pull down one of the oldest structures in Carbondale at a time when one of the cornerstones of the comprehesive plan under development by the city is to maintain older structures within the city, looks counterproductive to me. And to replace it with a garden, when more open space is the last thing Carbondale needs in downtown.

More on Neighborhood Organizations

Received this email in response to the question about other neighborhood organizations in Carbondale (posted with permission):

There are other neighborhood organizations though they are less "formally" organized than the Arbor District. One such example is the the Oaklawn Neighborhood in the southwest corner of .About four neighborhood groups meet regularly on the first Wednesday of the month, 5 pm at Carbondale City Hall. This is called the Carbondale Study Circles Neighborhood and Housing Action Group. Ir was started some five years ago. The Neighborhood and Housing Action Group formulates programs and polices that address neighborhood needs. Examples of our work include the development of city transparency in leasing and zoning policies, yearly Neighborhood Alliance meetings and the training and organizing for a neighborhood based emergency preparedness program, Map Your Neighborhood (MYN).

I h ave been a member of this group since its inception. I am also an Arbor District member. The Neighborhood and Housing Action Group also met with the Consultants consultants on the Comprehensive plan. It has been an agenda item at our meeting for the past two year. Though I was unable to attend the meeting here is a portion of my letter. It reflects major topics of discussion at our meetings:

Increasing neighborhood safety and deterring the decline of housing stock and home ownership in Carbondale’s neighborhoods is a focus of our work. With this in mind, I recommend that:

1. A formal relationship between crime prevention, City/University planning and neighborhoods be established. Programmatically this would mean the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) would be integrated into all land use regulation (i.e. the Comprehensive Plan, zoning ordinances, subdivision regulation, landscape, architectural design and access for the physically and mentally challenged);
2. Performance Standards be utilized in neighborhoods. Many of our neighborhoods are already mixed use especially with respect to mixed residential use. This mix of zoning exists without the controls of performance standards which mitigate the issues that arise when different types of land use are in close proximity—lighting, parking, buffering, etc.;
3.Encourage more owner occupancy and the number of “stake holders” living in Carbondale by continuing and expanding programs for converting rental properties to owner occupied. This is particularly significant now as the growth in new rental properties is increasing the availability of single family homes. There is growing concern regarding the impact of vacant rental housing in neighborhoods such as the Arbor District. Conversion of this rental property to owner occupied should be one strategy in a plan to address this issue.
4. The staffing of the department largely responsible for the oversight and implementation of the Comprehensive Plan, Development Services, has been restructured and depleted. Successful development, implementation and evaluation of the above mention polices and programs will require more staff. A Neighborhood Planner is needed. This planner would assist neighborhoods work on CPTED, MYN as well, cultivate neighborhood organizations/leadership. More hires in code enforcement are needed.

Thank You for Your Efforts and Time,

Mary O’Hara, PhD
maryohara@mchsi.com
Study Circles, Neighborhood and Housing Action Group