Responses to Feedback on the Imagine Urbana Draft

May 20, 2025


What is a Comprehensive Plan?

A comprehensive plan, such as the Imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan, serves as the City’s primary long-range planning document, providing the visioning framework for growth and development decisions over the next two decades. It is advisory in nature, meaning Imagine Urbana’s purpose is to guide, but not directly regulate or control, the use of private property. It is instead the policy basis for regulatory and legislative decisions related to community-wide land use, zoning, economic development, transportation systems, the environment, arts and culture, and the overall quality of life in the community.


Will Imagine Urbana change zoning districts?

No. Only an update to the City’s zoning ordinance can change zoning districts. Imagine Urbana does not, and cannot, change zoning districts. Imagine Urbana does provide guidance for general policy decisions and will be one of the plans that inform future zoning ordinance updates.


Is Imagine Urbana eliminating or changing R-1 and R-2 (single-family) zoning?

No. Since Imagine Urbana does not change zoning districts, the Plan will not eliminate or change the R-1 and R-2 zoning districts.


The Imagine Urbana “Place Types” descriptions and Map classifies residential neighborhoods as “Neighborhood 1” and “Neighborhood 2”. Place Types are not zoning classifications, but rather describe the City’s general vision for a given area. For example, “Neighborhood 1” is described as places that “consist primarily of single houses, with some duplexes and townhouses, and may include low-intensity small businesses and institutional uses.” Zoning districts, on the other hand, prescribe what uses are allowed in an area and regulate things like the size and placement of buildings.



Will Imagine Urbana give carte blanche permission for development anywhere in the city?

No. Developers must continue to work within the existing framework of the Zoning Ordinance, Land Development Code, etc.


Why doesn’t Imagine Urbana give more detailed descriptions of specific areas and neighborhoods?

Imagine Urbana is a community-wide plan that addresses issues that affect all of Urbana. It must be applicable to the City as a whole. This is why it must be general and may seem vague about what should happen in specific neighborhoods or areas, as each neighborhood has different needs. Imagine Urbana recognizes this and calls for Small Area Plans (Little Move #3.3) that can be developed to address the needs of individual areas of the community.


Does Imagine Urbana call for more rental housing?

Imagine Urbana supports housing for people of all ages and income levels, whether they own or rent. Big Move #1 - Address Urbana’s Diverse Housing Needs makes this clear, but it also identifies the need for better information to understand what types of housing are most needed. The first action item under Big Move #1 is Little Move #1.1, “Conduct a comprehensive study of the housing market, including an affordable housing assessment, analyzing the existing housing supply, workforce trends, future demand, affordability levels, and land use.” Groundwork for the housing study initiative is already underway so that targeted solutions can be developed to address Urbana’s diverse housing needs.


Where did Public Input come from?

Public input came from many sources throughout the entire Imagine Urbana community engagement process, with the first round of outreach starting in 2021. Imagine Urbana represents the distillation of feedback received through the ImagineUrbana.com website (Idea Wall, Places Map, Survey), SMS survey, neighborhood and community events and surveys, ward activities, various commission meetings, and more than a dozen Plan Commission study sessions and public hearings.


For reports from Phase I and Phase II community engagement, please see the Community Outreach Summary and Spending Priorities Findings. We have also received valuable feedback, both online and in-person, on the draft of Imagine Urbana since it was first published in August 2024.


Shouldn’t the incoming administration approve Imagine Urbana?

Yes. Staff worked with Mayor-elect DeShawn Williams prior to taking office to ensure that Imagine Urbana was both supported and implementable. Mayor Williams has remained actively involved in the Imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan draft review and approval process. Following the Urbana Plan Commission’s recommendation for approval, the Council’s Committee of the Whole has been carefully reviewing the Plan draft, gathering additional public input, and making further revisions. The Committee will continue this review process until the Plan is ready to be finalized and formally recommended to the City Council for approval.


Will people still have input on the types of development that happens in the City and in their neighborhood once Imagine Urbana is adopted?

Yes. The Zoning Ordinance requires public input for certain types of development, and that will not change with the adoption of Imagine Urbana. While the plan calls for rewriting the Zoning Ordinance to align with the plan (see Big Move #2), the process to change the Zoning Ordinance will include extensive public engagement, and a great deal of that engagement will focus on what types of development should (or should not) require public input going forward.



Are we stuck with Imagine Urbana once it’s adopted?

No. Imagine Urbana will be a “living document”. If something is not working, or something needs to be changed, we can change it – after a public process and only with City Council’s approval.

May 20, 2025


What is a Comprehensive Plan?

A comprehensive plan, such as the Imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan, serves as the City’s primary long-range planning document, providing the visioning framework for growth and development decisions over the next two decades. It is advisory in nature, meaning Imagine Urbana’s purpose is to guide, but not directly regulate or control, the use of private property. It is instead the policy basis for regulatory and legislative decisions related to community-wide land use, zoning, economic development, transportation systems, the environment, arts and culture, and the overall quality of life in the community.


Will Imagine Urbana change zoning districts?

No. Only an update to the City’s zoning ordinance can change zoning districts. Imagine Urbana does not, and cannot, change zoning districts. Imagine Urbana does provide guidance for general policy decisions and will be one of the plans that inform future zoning ordinance updates.


Is Imagine Urbana eliminating or changing R-1 and R-2 (single-family) zoning?

No. Since Imagine Urbana does not change zoning districts, the Plan will not eliminate or change the R-1 and R-2 zoning districts.


The Imagine Urbana “Place Types” descriptions and Map classifies residential neighborhoods as “Neighborhood 1” and “Neighborhood 2”. Place Types are not zoning classifications, but rather describe the City’s general vision for a given area. For example, “Neighborhood 1” is described as places that “consist primarily of single houses, with some duplexes and townhouses, and may include low-intensity small businesses and institutional uses.” Zoning districts, on the other hand, prescribe what uses are allowed in an area and regulate things like the size and placement of buildings.



Will Imagine Urbana give carte blanche permission for development anywhere in the city?

No. Developers must continue to work within the existing framework of the Zoning Ordinance, Land Development Code, etc.


Why doesn’t Imagine Urbana give more detailed descriptions of specific areas and neighborhoods?

Imagine Urbana is a community-wide plan that addresses issues that affect all of Urbana. It must be applicable to the City as a whole. This is why it must be general and may seem vague about what should happen in specific neighborhoods or areas, as each neighborhood has different needs. Imagine Urbana recognizes this and calls for Small Area Plans (Little Move #3.3) that can be developed to address the needs of individual areas of the community.


Does Imagine Urbana call for more rental housing?

Imagine Urbana supports housing for people of all ages and income levels, whether they own or rent. Big Move #1 - Address Urbana’s Diverse Housing Needs makes this clear, but it also identifies the need for better information to understand what types of housing are most needed. The first action item under Big Move #1 is Little Move #1.1, “Conduct a comprehensive study of the housing market, including an affordable housing assessment, analyzing the existing housing supply, workforce trends, future demand, affordability levels, and land use.” Groundwork for the housing study initiative is already underway so that targeted solutions can be developed to address Urbana’s diverse housing needs.


Where did Public Input come from?

Public input came from many sources throughout the entire Imagine Urbana community engagement process, with the first round of outreach starting in 2021. Imagine Urbana represents the distillation of feedback received through the ImagineUrbana.com website (Idea Wall, Places Map, Survey), SMS survey, neighborhood and community events and surveys, ward activities, various commission meetings, and more than a dozen Plan Commission study sessions and public hearings.


For reports from Phase I and Phase II community engagement, please see the Community Outreach Summary and Spending Priorities Findings. We have also received valuable feedback, both online and in-person, on the draft of Imagine Urbana since it was first published in August 2024.


Shouldn’t the incoming administration approve Imagine Urbana?

Yes. Staff worked with Mayor-elect DeShawn Williams prior to taking office to ensure that Imagine Urbana was both supported and implementable. Mayor Williams has remained actively involved in the Imagine Urbana Comprehensive Plan draft review and approval process. Following the Urbana Plan Commission’s recommendation for approval, the Council’s Committee of the Whole has been carefully reviewing the Plan draft, gathering additional public input, and making further revisions. The Committee will continue this review process until the Plan is ready to be finalized and formally recommended to the City Council for approval.


Will people still have input on the types of development that happens in the City and in their neighborhood once Imagine Urbana is adopted?

Yes. The Zoning Ordinance requires public input for certain types of development, and that will not change with the adoption of Imagine Urbana. While the plan calls for rewriting the Zoning Ordinance to align with the plan (see Big Move #2), the process to change the Zoning Ordinance will include extensive public engagement, and a great deal of that engagement will focus on what types of development should (or should not) require public input going forward.



Are we stuck with Imagine Urbana once it’s adopted?

No. Imagine Urbana will be a “living document”. If something is not working, or something needs to be changed, we can change it – after a public process and only with City Council’s approval.

Page last updated: 20 May 2025, 02:34 PM