FAQs

The City of Columbia, Illinois is developing a Comprehensive Plan that will serve as a guide for future land use and the basis for planning & zoning regulations, various policies, and community initiatives to be implemented by the City. The Comprehensive Plan will provide an overview of the community’s vision, goals, objectives, and policies to achieve its planned future.

The City of Columbia, Illinois continues to face a changing future driven by fast-paced demographic, economic, social, and industry trends. There is a need for a community-based planning process to develop a Comprehensive Plan that conveys the community’s vision for development and redevelopment for the next 20 years.

Traditionally, the City of Columbia, Illinois has engaged the community in face-to-face activities such as workshops, meetings, and open houses. Due to COVID-19 and social distancing measures, opportunities for in-person engagement are limited. Online engagement gives Columbia residents the opportunity to provide input at your own pace. This platform provides a quick, safe, and convenient way to share your thoughts and ideas on various topics that impact our community.

The surveys are drafted by the project team, made up of City Staff and Shockey Consulting. The surveys are designed to gather measurable community input on various topics. Questions are selected from previous surveys conducted by Shockey, which are tailored by the project team to fit Columbia’s context.

• Sign up by clicking the “Sign Up” or “Register” button at the top right of any page
• Choose a username and password
• Answer some questions about yourself
• You will receive an email to validate your email address
• Return to the website and sign in

We ask you to register to the platform for a few reasons:

• It promotes accountability and encourages people to provide more thoughtful responses.
• We can ensure that a broader set of backgrounds and perspectives are represented in the feedback we receive. This is critical to our decision-making process.
• You’ll receive important updates and information about new ways to participate in the planning process.

You can submit your feedback by participating in a variety of online tools, including surveys, quick polls, and discussion forums.

Your ideas and feedback will help shape the community’s vision, goals, objectives, and policies for future resiliency in Columbia. Our team will gather and analyze all feedback and develop reports for City Staff and elected and appointed officials to consider during the development of the Comprehensive Plan.

Under the Illinois Municipal Code (65 ILCS 5/11-12-5(1)), a city or village Plan Commission is charged with preparing and recommending “a comprehensive plan for the present and future development or redevelopment of the municipality.” The Comprehensive Plan will therefore include a future land use map to illustrate desired growth, opportunities for development and redevelopment, and the associated use permitted. 

The State of Illinois also says that a Comprehensive Plan can extend to land up to 1.5 miles beyond the corporate limits of the municipality, if that land is not incorporated by another municipality.