Updated on July 29 at 5:17 p.m. CT
The Urbana City Council adopted a new comprehensive plan Monday night after hearing comments in support and against the proposal.
Much of the discussion centered around the plan’s recommended zoning rules, which guide where different types of housing, businesses and other properties can be constructed.
The group narrowly approved an amendment from Councilmember Maryalice Wu that made three changes to the document: adding language to preserve zoning for neighborhoods currently zoned for single-family homes and duplexes; removing language that allows small businesses on corner lots of land; and removing a designation that would have allowed further development along part of Lincoln Avenue.
Wu said she views her proposal as a compromise while the city completes a planned housing study.
“Maintaining single family housing and and duplex housing, I think, is important for our community to ensure that we do have some diversity,” Wu said.
The council also endorsed a plan from the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission to reconfigure Lincoln Avenue and multiple neighboring streets.
Several community members urged the council ahead of the vote to approve the comprehensive plan as-is, arguing that changes could restrict the city’s future development and its ability to attract new residents.
“We can either choose to imagine what kind of housing our neighbors on the other side of Lincoln Avenue will need, and what type of road they would like to cross, or we can ensure that there are no affordable or reasonable-priced housing options,” said Annie Adams, member of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission and a candidate for mayor this year. “They can self-deport to Champaign, where the City Council has consistently passed progressive, small-growth strategies.”
The council also heard multiple comments from residents, including members of the West Urbana Neighborhood Association, who voiced opposition to the comprehensive plan. Several claimed the plan would encourage developers and landlords to target historic neighborhoods for new development.
“This comprehensive plan, if it goes forward with the current language, will undoubtedly enable much greater development in these older neighborhoods,” said Erik Sacks, a resident and former member of the Urbana City Council. “Are we going to lose the last owner-occupied houses in these historic neighborhoods? How this plan goes will determine that.”
City officials have called Imagine Urbana “a living document” that can be amended and revised over time.
Updated on July 24 at 4:18 p.m. CT
Officials in Urbana are taking steps towards approving a new vision to guide future planning and development in the city.
City council members passed the plan called “Imagine Urbana” out of Committee of the Whole during Monday night’s meeting.
The document aims to outline the community’s vision for growth and redevelopment over the next two decades. That includes broad goals for city neighborhoods, transportation and the environment.
“The Comprehensive Plan is not a document that regulates or controls the specific use or physical characteristics of private property,” according to Imagine Urbana.
Officials say the comprehensive plan is meant to be a living document.
“If something’s not working or needs to be changed, we can change it and after a public process and only of course with council approval,” said Andrea Ruedi, a staff member with the city of Urbana.
Urbana’s last comprehensive plan was approved in 2005. This year’s document also includes elements that address the local impact of the Great Recession in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the meeting, Councilmember Maryalice Wu introduced an amendment to protect single family homes and limit future development along part of Lincoln Avenue.
Councilmember Chris Evans said housing developers hoping to build there are more focused on turning a profit than meeting the community’s needs.
“New construction, I’ll say it again, is not affordable for people that are on SSI or on disability, fixed incomes, describe it however, are on a housing voucher,” he said. “There’s no price point in new construction that is uh affordable to those kind of people.”
The amendment did not pas. Some members said they want to make sure Urbana is not left behind in terms of new housing construction.
The group also said that they want to see the data to make this decision, not go off emotion.
The comprehensive plan is now on its way to the Urbana City Council for a vote.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify that members of Urbana’s Committee of the Whole passed the comprehensive plan and sent it to City Council. A previous version of this story also incorrectly stated that Councilmember Chaundra Bishop introduced the amendment limiting future development along Lincoln Avenue.