Neighborhood Planning in the City of Rock Island

The six neighborhood plans developed since 1991 include the Broadway Neighborhood Conservation Plan, Chicago Addition Neighborhood Plan, Douglas Park Neighborhood Plan, KeyStone Neighborhood Plan, Longview Historic Area Neighborhood Plan, and the 11th Street Corridor Plan. For information about these plans and their availability, please click here.

What is the Process Used to Develop a Neighborhood Plan?

The City of Rock Island uses a structured, traditional planning approach that includes the following eight steps:

• Select Planning Committee
  
• Identify issues in the neighborhood
  
• Collect/analyze neighborhood data
  
• Set neighborhood goals
  
• Select strategies to achieve goals
  
• Create/approve the plan document
  
• Implement the strategies
  
• Monitor progress
  
  

Neighborhood Plan Implementation

The Planning and Redevelopment Division, and other city departments, are very committed to the implementation of neighborhood plans. In fact, the City Council is so dedicated that neighborhoods consistently rank among the highest of their priorities every year. Although the commitment level for implementing neighborhood plans is very high, the division has found that implementation is difficult because of the high number of strategies identified in the various plans. To assist with plan implementation and help deal with issues that impact all neighborhoods, the city created Neighborhood Partners in 1996.

Neighborhood Partners

Neighborhood Partners is a city-initiated and coordinated partnership that builds stronger working relationships among neighborhoods, city government, service agencies, schools, churches and businesses. The organization assembles the talents of volunteer citizens and city and agency staff people to improve quality of life and pride in Rock Island through education, resident self-sufficiency and enhanced, user-friendly municipal services.

Neighborhood Partners created a task force system to deal with issues in a grassroots manner. Task forces are made up of Neighborhood Partners representatives and other concerned citizens. Current task forces are: Capacity Building, Problem Properties, and School-Community.

Activities of Neighborhood Partners and its 13 member organizations are highlighted in a free quarterly newsletter mailed to more than 1,350 people committed to improving and promoting Rock Island. Click here to read the most recent issue of Neighborhood News.

Previous editions of the Neighborhood News can also be accessed online.