The public activities leading to the adoption of an update of the Kalamazoo Comprehensive Plan began on September 10, 1996, with a kick-off meeting to acquaint Kalamazoo residents with the schedule for the planning process and the opportunities for them to become active participants in its development.

This was followed by a round of neighborhood meetings on September 5, 6, and 7 which were conducted at six sites selected to provide an accessible site to everyone who wished to attend. At this round of meetings, residents were invited to share their thoughts on challenges and opportunities which should be explored during the planning process.

Shortly thereafter, a topical meeting was convened. The topical meeting segregates issues which will be addressed in the Comprehensive Plan into four topical categories: Livability, Community Form, Infrastructure and Environment, and the Marketplace. These meetings were more narrowly focused than the neighborhood meetings in terms of content and more broadly focused in terms of geographic focus (i.e., entire community as opposed to neighborhoods). These topical meetings offered residents a chance to talk with technical experts in each of the topical areas.

From that point until the end of January, a team of consultants worked to create a Community Profile of Kalamazoo. This effort produced a document which gave a data-based current snapshot of Kalamazoo on a wide range of issues including population demographics, housing, employment, parks and recreation, public services and facilities, transportation, and the economy among many others.

The Community Profile report also projected many of these characteristics for the year 2015, twenty years hence, the "horizon" year of this comprehensive plan. These projections were based on trends over the past twenty years and other available data. It was assumed that no new initiatives would be implemented during the next twenty years. Copies of this large volume were placed throughout Kalamazoo where they could be conveniently examined by anyone interested.

Based upon the existing conditions in Kalamazoo and the best available projections of future conditions if past trends were to continue, the consultant team then led a series of "visioning" meetings. The first round of visioning meetings were held as neighborhood meetings -- again at six dispersed sites throughout Kalamazoo. These meetings were followed by a large community-wide vision meeting. 

The purpose of the visioning exercises was to solicit from a cross-section of residents their vision of what changes would be evidence that Kalamazoo had been successful in meeting the challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities of the next 20 years. The participants in these exercises selected, by ballot, "the best visions" from all that surfaced in their meetings. It is felt that a valid sense of Kalamazoo’s vision for the future has been obtained.

Using this information, the consultant team has now developed a set of proposed goal statements covering a myriad of issues which the Comprehensive Plan will ultimately address. All recorded comments from the visioning exercises were reviewed with emphasis on those chosen as "Top" Visions. As they are edited through the community involvement process, the accompanying Goals and Objectives will become the framework of the final updated Kalamazoo Comprehensive Plan.