Libertyville streetscape plan looks good on paper

Business owners support a makeover for Route 137, but without cost estimates, the interest is akin to admiring a pretty picture.

Plenty of those have been generated by a village consultant for the busy corridor, including visions of a bike path to the Independence Grove Forest Preserve and swathes of plantings to soften the landscape.

Property owners and business operators this week got their first look at a proposal the village says it is intent on pursuing. Reaction to the possibilities along Route 137 for 1.2 miles between Butterfield Road and Milwaukee Avenue was favorable.

"The property owners would be very quick to agree with the plan. The next questions are cost and funding," said Jack Martin, owner of the Libertyville Saddle Shop and other properties.

Preliminary work began last spring, with the hiring by the village of 3D Design Studio of Grayslake to produce a concept plan. The state route is one of the busier roads in the village, carrying more than 33,000 vehicles a day.

In the village's comprehensive plan, the corridor is regarded as an important commercial area in need of improvement.

Besides the bike path, the vision features ornamental trees and shrubs or native plantings along parkways and on medians. Banners and signs along the route, and entry features on either end also are part of the package.

Exact locations of those elements and other aspects, such consolidating entrances and extending medians to allow easier access to and from businesses, are to be determined. Other suggestions, such as extending the corridor east to the forest preserve and west to the Libertyville Sports Complex, were taken under advisement.

The next step is to get detailed cost estimates.

Some money for the effort will be included in the 2009-10 budget but village officials previously have said the property owners would have to shoulder much of the expense.