Comprehensive Plan - Carbondale, IL

Adopted June 22, 2010City of CarbondaleActions and Initiativesa. Conduct a small area plan for Town Square, with boundaries extending fromOak Street on the north to Walnut Street on the south and from Illinois Avenueto Marion Street on the west and east, respectively. The purpose of the plan isto conceptualize its redevelopment as means for drafting standards to ensurean urban character.b. Consider expansion of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district to supplementthe incentives available through the Enterprise Zone.c. Evaluate the feasibility of installing permanent facilities necessary to supportthe operations of the farmer’s market within the parking lot adjacent to therailroad and north of E. Main Street. An alternate site would be south of E.Main Street.d. Transition the redevelopment with the adjacent businesses and neighborhoodsthrough extended public improvements, on-street parking restrictions, andstandards for rear elevations, buffering of loading and service areas, and lightand noise.Focus Area 2.5 - Enhanced Community CharacterCarbondale is settled on an open landscape and nestled amongst a beautiful naturalenvironment. Its location and environmental juxtaposition contributes to its macrocharacter– that is, its identity and recognition in a regional context. Within thecommunity, defined here to include the 1.5 mile extraterritorial jurisdiction, differentneighborhoods and areas exhibit their own micro-character. The differentiation ofmicro-character is due to: 1) the integration and design of the natural environment;2) the patterns and form of development; and 3) the aesthetic and sense of place byway of amenities and the characteristics of urban design. The proximity of theseareas and districts to one another and to the primary corridors is what forms thecommunity’s character.The term community character relates to how the community is viewed by visitorsand passers-by (at the macro-scale), as well as (at the micro-scale) its contextualand functional relationships between districts and areas. In short, it relates to thecompatibility between adjacent uses.As a University community that is also a regional retail, medical, and culturalhub, Carbondale has a broad range of uses and development types. For instance,there are more, larger-scale and greater-intensity, multiple-family developmentsthan is common among comparably sized communities. For this reason, there aregreater differences in intensities between adjacent and nearby uses, which, in turn,sometimes raises concerns of land use compatibility. This greatly affects values andcommunity livability.2.36The City’s zoning ordinance is based on the use of land, meaning that the delineationof zoning districts is driven by lists of permitted, conditional, and special uses, aswell as building height and lot area standards. In the case of the residential districts,the densities are determined by a minimum lot size. Other than building heightsand setbacks in the standard districts (excluding planned developments), there areno other standards that affect decisions as to minimum or larger lots, amount ofopen space, placement of garages and lot access, on-site parking, etc. As a result,the character of neighborhoods in the same zoning district, which are each allowedby-right, may be much different. The outcome is commonly either uniformity (orChapter Two