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Council debates scope of Route 59 corridor study as staff readies RFP
Summary
City planners proposed a corridor-wide Route 59 RFP to hire consultants for land-use, streetscape and marketing work; some aldermen urged narrower focus on city-owned catalyst sites while staff said a full-corridor plan would provide cohesive design guidance.
Warrenville — City staff presented a draft request-for-proposals for a Route 59 corridor planning study on Feb. 17, prompting council discussion about whether to study the entire corridor or focus limited resources on city-owned catalyst sites.
Community planner Maskell said the RFP would fund consultant work to prepare a corridor plan including land-use recommendations, streetscape and signage guidelines, marketing materials and site-specific catalyst strategies. "Developing an RFP and identification of a preferred consultant is included in the community development department's work plan for this fiscal year," Maskell said.
Alderman Lockett recommended narrowing scope and using funds to market specific city-owned parcels at the northeast corner first, arguing the city could then revisit a broader study later. "I just wonder if that money is not better used to market the city owned property at the Northeast Corner to try to get some development going there and then come back and then do this study once that's been established," Lockett said.
Director Emory and other staff countered that the corridor plan would include marketing for city-owned properties and that a corridor-wide approach would create a cohesive identity and design standard to guide future redevelopment. "By doing the study, we'd be able to do the market analysis and to really drive development to those areas based on the market conditions and what we want to see," Emory said.
Maskell said the RFP process is scheduled to allow consultant selection so the planning process could start in June and that funding for the planning process is a decision-package item for consideration at the March 15 FY27 budget workshop. The item was presented for information and will be considered formally during the budget process.
Next steps: staff will include the RFP in the work plan and bring a decision package for FY27 budget consideration; council will have the opportunity to refine scope during budget deliberations.
