Pingree Grove spending $1 million to beautify downtown

Progress is stirring up dust in downtown Pingree Grove.

A $1.17 million project to beautify the village's Heritage District is under way.

Village President Wyman "Clint" Carey says this marks the area's largest, most comprehensive project in recent memory.

As part of the makeover, new pavement is in store for Public, Railroad, Jackson, Grove and Prairie streets and Reinking Road.

Damisch Road and Mansfield and Store streets will be resurfaced.

For the first time, decorative, old-fashioned streetlights will line Reinking Road between Damisch Road and Route 20.

The only lights illuminating that section of town now hang from telephone poles, Carey said.

New street signs, similar to the ones in the Cambridge Lakes subdivision, will replace existing signs downtown and designate the area as the heritage district, said Village Manager Scott Hartman.

Pieces of land filled with native plants, called bioswales, will naturally filter the town's storm water before returning it to Tyler Creek, and are being put in all around the Heritage District.

All of the work is expected to be done in October, Carey said.

But in the meantime, Hartman asks everyone to pardon Pingree's dust.

"The village appreciates everyone's patience as we work through these projects," he said. "We're sure that people are going to be pleased when it's complete."

Once all of the work is done, Carey predicts the beautification will give the town a good "game face" when it comes to attracting new developers and businesses.

"It's just the first step of trying to move forward with downtown, putting the infrastructure in, cleaning up parts of it, sprucing it up," Carey said.