City of Highland Park Central Business District

About the Central District Plan Update

Click to see the following:

Why update the Central District Plan

Geography of the Central District

Planning process goals

Public Process: June through September

WHY UPDATE THE CENTRAL DISTRICT PLAN

The Highland Park City Council established a 2009 goal for the Department of Community Development to update the Central District Plan. The City hopes and intends to involve a wide spectrum of participants to help create the future vision for downtown Highland Park. The process will involve the City Council, City boards and commissions, targeted stakeholder groups, and residents, employees and visitors to Highland Park.

This is a critical time to engage in a downtown planning process. The competitive environment for commercial opportunities in the north suburbs is intense and increasing, so Highland Park must be proactive if it seeks to protect the downtown economy, its overall community functions, and have the Central District flourish in the future. The planning process will allow for identification of a shared vision for the economy, character and function of downtown. Furthermore, identifying public and private preservation and development opportunities in the Central District will allow the City to maintain the best features of downtown while renewing those areas that are underutilized. The process is intended to assure that downtown Highland Park will remain livable and competitive in the years to come.

Primary Reasons to Update the Plan

1. The Central District is an economic engine of the City economy and must continually be tuned up.
2. The Central Business District is everyone’s neighborhood; it is the primary social gathering place for the community and is consequently important to the lives of all residents.
3. To establish policies that address the sustainability of the Central District and benefit the environment.
4. Reduce future operating/infrastructure costs for downtown Highland Park.
5. The current economic recession gives the City an opportunity to assess the potential for new development in the downtown and consider the goals of the Plan in advance of the next rush of development applications.
6. Retail competition in and around Highland Park is on-going and strong: Old Orchard, Hawthorne Mall, Northbrook Court, downtown Deerfield, The Glen and Willow/Waukegan retail concentration, Lincolnshire, Deere Park retail center, and downtown Evanston are all competition to Highland Park.

Secondary Reasons to Update the Plan

1. The City needs to identify the regulatory constraints and physical improvements necessary to assure vibrance and sustainability.
2. It is time for an assessment of the impact of Renaissance Place on the character, quality and function of downtown Highland Park.
3. This is an opportunity to identify needs of community residents that are not being met by existing land uses in downtown HP.
4. The Central District Plan, completed in 2001, is going on 10 years since Council approval and should be updated to address present conditions.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE CENTRAL DISTRICT

For purposes of consistency in discussing the geography of the Central District, the terms “Downtown” and “Pedestrian Commercial Core” will be applied to designated geographic areas of the Central District.

Downtown: includes the Pedestrian Commercial Core, convenience commercial areas currently zoned B4; institutional uses (the Karger Center, the post office, City Hall and the Highland Park Public Library) and, multiple family developments with mixed use potential (areas zoned RO).

Pedestrian Commercial Core: includes the predominance of the District’s retail and office activities and is composed of the areas of the District currently zoned B5. Generally, the Pedestrian Commercial Core extends from Laurel Avenue on the south to Elm Place on the north, Green Bay Road on the west and Linden Avenue on the east.

PLANNING PROCESS GOALS

The planning process will conclude with the adoption of a revisioning statement for the Central District Plan. The plan components and work products will include:

1. An analysis of data and trends related to the physical, economic, and social fabric of downtown which will be summarized in a series of memoranda provided to the community at large and the planning process participants;
2. A memorandum incorporating a range of stakeholder viewpoints and survey results on the future of downtown which will be summarized in a memorandum;
3. A vision statement for the Central District;
4. An action items report including the responsible party and timelines for implementation;

The planning process will involve various methods of public engagement including interviews with key stakeholders, surveys, community open houses, issue roundtable advisory panels, and public meetings. The goal is to have a thoughtful but efficient public process that will seek consensus on a shared vision for downtown and result in concrete recommendations for action.

What’s Happened Since the 2001 Central District Plan?

- click here to see a map of recent public improvements -

- click here to see a map of recent private improvements -

PUBLIC PROCESS: JUNE THROUGH SEPTEMBER

The City envisions a comprehensive public input process over the next few months in advance of developing a Central District Plan revisioning to bring to the City Council for consideration.

- Conduct key stakeholder interviews

- Survey community – an online survey will be coming to this website soon.

- Hold community open house

- Convene roundtable meetings with facilitated discussions

- Develop, share, and refine vision statement in meetings with persons so far participating in the public process

- Present a consensus vision statement to the Plan Commission for recommendation and City Council adoption

Community Open House

The City will host a community open house where the public can learn about the current goals and objectives for the Central District, consider presentations on the background data materials, fill out a downtown user survey, and hear about and sign up to participate in the public process.

The Community Open House will be on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at the Highland Park Community House, 1991 Sheridan Road, starting at 6 p.m. Attendees will have an opportunity to review maps illustrating conditions in downtown Highland Park and give input on a range of issues focused on four Plan themes:

1. Creating a Vibrant Downtown

- Building Form, Urban Design and Historic Preservation

- Broad range of housing opportunities

- Art and Culture

2. Promoting Commerce and Service

- Maintaining/expanding the CBD Market

- Business retention and viability

- Availability of job opportunities

- Parking provision – public (on-street and off-street) private (off-street) and shared parking

- Enhancing the visibility and way finding to the Central District

3. Advancing a Sustainable Downtown

- Pedestrian Life – Walkability and accessibility

- Facilities for bicycling

- Car Sharing

- Preservation vs. New Development

- Open Space

- Greening the CBD

- Coordination with public transit

4. Assuring a Well Functioning Downtown

- Dealing with obsolete buildings

- Transportation and parking hotspots

- Infrastructure – current conditions, maintenance and future capital improvements

The keynote speaker at the Community Open House will be Doug Farr, President of Farr Associates and author of Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design with Nature. Mr. Farr is a leading national expert in green planning and architecture.

You can learn more about Open House by emailing the Department of Community Development at contact@hpdowntownplan.org.

Roundtable Process

After the Community Open House, this summer the City will convene a roundtable discussion process to more narrowly focus participant discussion by issue areas and get to consensus points that will lead to development of the Vision Statement. Roundtable participants will explore the overarching questions facing the downtown and then examine one or more of the themes. The number of persons participating in the roundtable process will not be limited. The roundtable discussions will be facilitated by consultants retained by the City with expertise in city planning and group process. Each roundtable may meet a number of times to get to a recommendation and these recommendations are forwarded to a Roundtable Advisory Group. The Roundtable Advisory Group will have an ongoing role in the planning process.

At least one roundtable meeting will involve a targeted awareness walk around the downtown to identify what works and does not work relative to the specific theme of the roundtable group.

Downtown Gateway Design Charette

One other component of the roundtable process will include an in-depth design based discussion (a “charrette”) of the entry gateways to the Central District. The process will identify the key downtown gateway locations identify short-, medium- and long-term improvements for the purpose of welcoming and directing visitors to downtown Highland Park. The charrette will include representatives from the Highland Park Business Alliance, property owners, Chamber of Commerce, Plan Commission, Business and Economic Development Commission, Design Review Commission and City staff.