Offer your ideas on Elmhurst-Oakton development

Des Plaines is inviting resident and business owner input today on potential redevelopment along Oakton Street and Elmhurst Road.

Using a Federal Aviation Administration grant, Des Plaines hired a consultant in January, Camiros Ltd. of Chicago, to help draft a plan for the city gateways.

Collecting ideas from people who work, live or own property along Oakton from Des Plaines River Road to Elmhurst Road, and along Elmhurst from Oakton to Dempster Street is part of developing this plan, said Tim Angell, deputy director of community and economic development.

City officials say there are no current plans to establish a tax-increment financing district along the corridors. There have already been some informal discussions between businesses and the city.

"We're going to use the information we received from those stakeholders and the information we receive (at the meting) to put together a preliminary plan," Angell said.

The public meeting will start at 7 p.m. today at Maine West High School, 1755 S. Wolf Road.

Des Plaines qualified for the FAA grant, which will pay for 80 percent of the $125,000 contract with Camiros, because it's adjacent to O'Hare International Airport.

With O'Hare expansion plans in the works, the city's development options are changing. The city has an interest in continual growth of its industrial sector. "Currently, the industrial market based upon the expansion of O'Hare is dictating redevelopment from smaller industrial and warehouse facilities into larger logistic and airfreight facilities," Angell said.