Oak Park village officials hoped for community feedback in preparing a new Comprehensive Plan, and Wednesday evening their wish came true.
More than 100 people showed up at the 19th Century Club for the Envision Oak Park Comprehensive Plan kickoff event, an evening that allowed the crowd to instantly register, through keypad polling, what they value most in the village.
“This process is driven by bottom-up feedback from the community,” Village President David Pope said at the beginning of the meeting.
Oak Park has held numerous community and neighborhood meetings on the planning process, but until Wednesday night, they had trouble generating turnout.
“We have the opportunity to envision where our community is going to go,” Pope said, “hence the name, Envision Oak Park.”
At Wednesday’s meeting, participants were polled on 11 categories, including land use and building environment; arts and culture; parks, open spaces and environmental features; neighborhood and housing diversity; education; community health and safety; transportation and infrastructure; community life and engagement; economic health and vitality; environmental sustainability; and government excellence.
From those groups, the data gathered at Wednesday’s meeting revealed people cared most about community health and safety, economic health and vitality, transportation (and parking) issues and the overall tax burden.
The meeting was led by John Houseal, principal and co-founder of Houseal Lavigne Associates — the consulting group Oak Park hired to head the project.
Houseal said a comprehensive plan helps guide community investment and resource allocation, articulates community desires, and establishes a common playbook. He emphasized that it doesn’t dictate zoning guidelines.
The planning group has received about 365 questionnaires back from residents and an a handful from business owners, Houseal said. More feedback, however, is needed to ensure the responses are representative.
Prior to providing opinions on the 11 categories, the audience was polled on basic demographic information so the consulting group can better understand the participants they are reaching.
According to the instant keypad data, a majority of the audience members were homeowners, above the age of 45 and did not have school-age children. Most were married (70 percent), living in a single-family home (72 percent), and were longtime Oak Park residents. In fact, 30 percent had lived in Oak Park for 26 years or more and 26 percent had been here for 16-25 years.
Houseal said these trends reflected a familiar pattern of people who are most likely to get involved in these types of community meetings. He urged the audience to help engage more diverse populations across Oak Park.
Among the core values that will likely be reflected in Oak Park’s Comprehensive Plan, Houseal emphasized collaboration and cooperation, diversity, respect for Oak Park’s history and legacy and urban sustainability.
Participants were also given sheets to fill out to add any questions, concerns and thoughts they had on the process.
The Comprehensive Plan is in its conceptual stage, but leaders have said this is the critical time for people to get involved. The planning process is expected to continue until the end of the year.
To participate in the process or to learn more about the Comprehensive Plan, visit www.envisionoakpark.com.