Committee Begins Work on Comprehensive Planning Process

A steering committee comprised of 33 key players in Forest Park met for the first time Tuesday, to begin work on a comprehensive plan for the village, the Forest Park Review reported Tuesday.

Forest Park is one of five communities in the West Cook County Housing Collaborative that received a Sustainable Communities Challenge Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the development of a comprehensive plan for the village.

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The plan includes four parts: The planning rationale, planning goals and objectives, a community-wide plan and implementation.

The planning rationale describes factors influencing opportunities for improvement and development, such as existing land use, community facilities and transportation.

Planning goals and objectives include long-range statements of the community’s aspirations and provide overall focus and direction for planning recommendations.

The community-wide plan provides policy direction for future improvement, growth, development and preservation within the community. The plan includes three sections: Land use policy, community facilities policies and transportation policies.

Implementation will set forth specific actions required to implement the plan. It will also address administrative actions, regulatory controls, capital improvements, and review and amendment of the plan.

“Adoption of the Comprehensive Plan is only the first step in the planning process. Absent on-going implementation, the Plan will have little lasting effect. Therefore, the Plan is action oriented and provides the opportunity to direct change for the benefit of all citizens of Forest Park,” according to the village’s comprehensive plan report.

“...The Plan should not be viewed as a static document. While it serves as an official program of the Village, it will be subject to regular review and refinement to ensure it is in tune with the needs of the community, or the requirements of state and federal agencies.”

The planning process breaks down into three phases, including the inventory and analysis report phase, the concept plan alternatives report phase and the draft comprehensive and final plan phase.

Village consultants will categorize comments from 16 interviews with “key” people in the community to use for discussion at two workshops with Forest Park residents, according to the Review. The first workshop will address issues and concerns and the second will focus on goals and objectives.

Read more about the planning process on a recently-launched website dedicated to the plan, or take a look at the comprehensive plan document here.