The DeKalb City Council will vote today on passing the city’s first comprehensive plan update since 1996.

“The plan serves as the city’s major policy document,” city manager Mark Biernacki said. “It should reflect current policy and the trends today, not the trends of 1996.”

The plan update, written by city planner Ray Keller, has been under consideration for the last three years, DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said.

“Hopefully the council will pass it. We’ve gotten some comments and concerns from some council members, however,” Sparrow said. “At some point, you [have] to pull the trigger. We’ve had more meetings than you can shake a stick at.”

There have been other circumstances that have slowed things down, Sparrow said. Things started moving ahead, but when the city manager changed, progress on the update slowed down again.

Although the council is closer to an agreement, there still are objections to the current updated plan.

Third Ward Alderman Steve Kapitan said he expects to vote against the plan based on the absence of a project to link Dresser and Twombly roads.

“The idea is that, in the future, the traffic will be so high that we’d have to put stoplights in,” Kapitan said. “Originally, the plan was to line up the roads, but they’ve decided they don’t need that anymore.”

He said the city will be forced to put in two stoplights somewhere down the line.

“In the long run, both sides [of the road] are going to get developed and more traffic will be on Annie Glidden,” Kapitan said. “When you signalize an offset intersection it gums things up. You’ll have to sit through two lights instead of one.”

Although this currently is not a problem, Kapitan said the comprehensive plan is meant to eliminate problems that could arise years from now.

Kapitan said the council needs to weigh long-term benefits with short-term ones.

“The problem is that the [proposed road connection] goes through where a proposed grocery development is,” Kapitan said. “Was there any influence from the development proposal to get rid of the connection of [Dresser and Twombly roads]?”