Carpentersville seeks input on Fox River bridge

Officials in Carpentersville want residents to be the driving force behind a Fox River crossing project, so they're inviting the public to voice their concerns and opinions a at a community workshop at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 6, at village hall.

The meeting is the first in a series the village anticipates as it develops a plan to guide policy and decision-making for the Longmeadow Parkway Corridor over the next 10 to 15 years.

The plan will establish a long-range vision for the area, define community goals and objectives and provide guidance for implementing programs and policies for the corridor, village staff said.

The corridor is part of the proposed Longmeadow Tollway Bridge, a Fox River crossing that would connect Huntley Road to Route 62.

The village is seeking input from residents on the proposed tollway bridge's corridor between routes 31 and 25.

"The community will be involved in the planning from beginning to end," Community Development Director Cindy McCammack said. "Residents will be able to offer guidance just as anyone else who is at the meeting."

Houseal Lavigne, a Naperville-based urban planning and community development firm, will present an interim report that outlines current geographic, environmental and zoning conditions within the area. A $135,000 grant from the state's transportation body funded the study.

"It is an overview of existing conditions to start into the process on how to best protect properties impacted by the corridor," McCammack said. "It will help us to best utilize the land so that various uses interact well with little impact on each other."

Those uses could include retail, commercial or open space, Village President Bill Sarto said.

"We have talked about possible uses for the Brunner Property and how to get development along the corridor," he said. "This bridge will have an effect on the community from the standpoint of connecting the east side and the west side."

The Longmeadow Parkway Toll Bridge would create a new four-lane Fox River bridge and a 5.6-mile roadway stretching from Huntley Road to Route 62. Proponents say it would provide another river crossing to ease traffic congestion on Interstate 90, Route 72 and Route 62. It would be the first regional crossing since I-90 was constructed in the 1950s.

The corridor plan will take between six and nine months to develop, in which time village staff will review past plans and studies, collect and analyze data regarding land-use, traffic, demographics and market conditions.

A copy of the interim plan will be available on the village's Web site, http://vil.carpentersville.il.us/, after the meeting.