(A) The "Danville 2025" Comprehensive Plan is hereby approved and adopted by reference. The Comprehensive Plan shall not be amended except by action of the City Council. Copies of the Comprehensive Plan and all amendments thereto shall be made available to the public and to any vendors and contractors who may so request.
(B) Background.
(1) The Comprehensive Plan is the master plan for the future growth and development of the city. The Comprehensive Plan guides planning and development policy for the city and the one and one-half mile territory adjoining the city limits. The Comprehensive Plan serves as a long-range vision of what we want our city to become, as a tool for making decisions about how that vision should be achieved, and as a specific program of action for reaching our stated objectives. As a long-range vision, the Plan sets forth the values we want to realize as the city changes over the next 20 years and ties those values to the physical development and shaping of the community. It also presents an official policy framework and mapped context for making incremental decisions regarding land development issues. Finally, the Plan outlines the strategies and steps the community can follow to make it a reality.
(2) The purpose of this Plan is to serve as an advisory guide for making decisions on matters pertaining to the quality of life in the community with particular emphasis on the future physical development of the city. As an advisory guide, the plan is intended to be flexible, generalized in nature and designed for periodic review and revision. Because the city is a dynamic entity, the Comprehensive Plan should be updated every five to ten years to address the changes and accomplishments taking place along the way.
(3) There are numerous factors that make having an adopted Comprehensive Plan essential for the city. Most of the city's past development occurred without the guidance of any planning and land use controls. The Comprehensive Plan will help guide the redevelopment of some of these poorly planned areas of the community. It is also paramount to have a Comprehensive Plan because zoning can not lawfully be carried out without practicing long range planning and having a land use plan. The Comprehensive Plan will also enhance development options, improve the quality of life, and allow the city to use scarce local resources more efficiently.
(4) A Comprehensive Plan does have certain inherent limitations. A Comprehensive Plan does not represent an end result. Although the Plan summarizes survey results, presents community goals and objectives, outlines policies and plans for future development, and identifies needed actions, these actions must be carried out and supplemented with continuous review and updating in order to complete the process. Additionally, the Plan does not attempt to thoroughly analyze every aspect of community development. The Plan is concerned with outlining a basic course of action to encourage development that preserves and enhances the local quality of life. Its recommendations are generalized in regard to future land use patterns, street alignments, and urban design. Further, in order to avoid duplication of efforts the Plan is deliberately more generalized where more detailed target area planning is necessary.
(5) This Plan has been prepared pursuant to the Illinois Municipal Code, which grants municipal plan commissions the authority "to prepare and recommend to the corporate authorities a comprehensive plan for the present and future development or redevelopment of the municipality" (ILCS Ch. 65, Act 5, § 11-12-5).
(6) This Plan may be adopted as a whole or in particular parts, and will become effective upon the passage of ordinances by the corporate authorities of the city. It may be amended in whole or in part from time to time.
(7) The Planning and Zoning Commission is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Plan and will consider any necessary changes to the Plan as applicable.
(Ord. 8505, passed 10-3-06)