Des Plaines OKs Cumberland station redevelopment plan

The Des Plaines City Council Monday night approved final concept plans for redevelopment of the area around the Cumberland Metra rail station into a commercial district.

It took more than a year of meetings with residents and planners to develop the Cumberland Transit Oriented Development Plan, funded entirely through a $125,000 community planning grant from the Regional Transportation Authority.

The study encompasses the area within a half-mile radius of the Cumberland rail station, on the Union Pacific's Northwest line. The idea is to promote development around public transit hubs so people can take mass transit to work.

“The key to transit-oriented development is providing a walkable environment in a station area,” said Steve Friedman with S.B. Friedman & Co., the firm heading up the city's team of consultants.

The plan calls for creating a mesh of connected streets and a diversity of housing of varying densities in the long term. But any transformation of the area would be developer-driven and not involve huge investment of public money, Friedman said.

The plan includes Metra replacing the aging Cumberland station house with a new building and expanding the parking lot south of the tracks. The station reconstruction would be paid for through the Capital Improvement Bonds Program approved by state legislators in 2009. Yet, the state has not identified any funding sources for the program.

The short-term plan for the Cumberland area includes limited real estate redevelopment opportunities, but there are a lot of smaller enhancements proposed that would provide better access to the train station and improve the environment around it, said Geoff Dickinson, project manager.

Officials stressed the city has no plans to acquire any land in the area for redevelopment and that it would be up to private businesses to spur improvements.

Des Plaines 6th Ward Alderman Mark Walsten said he would not favor of any plan that called for uprooting existing businesses.

While it's unclear when private redevelopment might occur under current market conditions, public improvements such as street beautification, wider sidewalks, building a pedestrian walkway leading up to the train tracks, adding planters and benches, and beautifying commercial building facades and parking lots could occur within five years, officials have said.

Though Des Plaines doesn't have the funds to pursue such improvements, the city is expecting an influx of cash down the road with the planned opening of its new casino this summer.

To view the plan for the Cumberland area visit desplaines.org.