Plainfield updating its comprehensive plan

• Reprints

Updated: March 1, 2012 8:07AM

PLAINFIELD — Recognizing a comprehensive plan that was first drafted in 2002 may be a bit outdated, the Plainfield Village Board is tweaking the document that outlines the village’s future.

Since a committee began updating the comprehensive plan in August, planner Jonathan Proulx said the group has met seven times to take a methodical approach to reviewing the document. So far, he said, the committee has reviewed the transportation and land use sections.

The last time the comprehensive plan was updated was in 2005.

Trustee Bill Lamb, who also serves as chairman of the update committee, said the group has sought input from a diverse representation, which includes people involved in development, architecture and real estate, as well as village staff.

Some of the goals of the transportation plan, Lamb said, includes developing alternative routes; making Interstate 55 access improvements a high priority for Plainfield, Romeoville and Bolingbrook; reducing cut-through traffic in neighborhoods and subdivisions; and providing routes that will keep truck traffic from the downtown corridor.

The committee also plans to evaluate the need for a Van Dyke Road extension to Springbank development since Route 59 has been expanded and Drauden Road is in place. When the latter proposal was suggested years earlier, it caused outrage from residents, particularly those in the Wallin Woods subdivision near Village Hall.

Some of the public transportation update suggestions include having park and ride lots in expanding commuter use of a bus system, Lamb said during Monday’s workshop.

The plan also looks at land-use issues, density calculations, housing products of the future, impact of changing demographics on future growth and sewer infrastructure.