The City of Des Plaines 2019 Comprehensive Plan

The Comprehensive Plan is a policy guide, adopted by the City Council, that assists the City on establishing goals and objectives on several different land use topics. In fact, the chapters of the Comprehensive Plan were broken down into the areas of focus which include: housing, open space, economic development, transportation and downtown.

The 2019 Comprehensive Plan was the direct result of a grant awarded from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) through their Local Technical Assistance grant program. CMAP worked with elected officials, City staff, consultants and the community as a whole to determine the needs of the City.

Creating the new Comprehensive Plan was a two-year process which involved analyzing, interviewing, surveying, holding public meetings and assessing a broad range of topics in Des Plaines to effectively address various areas of opportunities in the City.

As a result of this process, the new Comprehensive Plan contains clear recommendations on how to address current issues as well as emerging trends. Some of the specific recommendations that came out of the study include:

• Work with community partner organizations to assist residents age-in-place;
• Embrace the existing population diversity by having documents, forms and City literature available in various languages;
• Work to advance downtown Des Plaines as the cultural and business core of the City; and
• Enhance business opportunities within the City such as creating a maker’s space where artists can teach, make, and sell in a shared space.

The 2019 Comprehensive Plan replaces the version from 2007 and the City will utilize the new Comprehensive Plan to help assess development proposals and address local and regional trends.

Additional Information

• CMAP's Dedicated Page to Des Plaines Comprehensive Plan

Plan Documents