Fox Lake to spend $15,000 for new downtown plan

Fox Lake village leaders are following the motto that you need to spend some money to make some money.

The village board has agreed to spend $15,000 to create a new downtown redevelopment plan that would be the focal point in an application for a $100,000 grant from the Metra commuter rail system, Mayor Ed Bender said.

That grant money would be used to develop the area around the village's commuter railroad station on Nippersink Drive and at Lakefront Park, Bender said.

The $15,000 paid to Land Vision, Inc., a municipal planning company in Chicago, will come from the village's general fund, he added.

“We are in the process of creating an action plan for the next five years to start redeveloping Fox Lake,” he said. “But, in order to redevelop like we want, we need funding. This Metra grant would go a long way to helping do that.”

Land Vision has experience working with municipalities located along waterways to better utilize their positions to get people off the water and onto land, he said. Fox Lake is located along the Chain O' Lakes.

“They have worked with St. Charles and Elgin and Aurora along their river fronts to attract developers,” Bender said. “Basically, this is a plan within a plan to start redeveloping downtown, to make it more attractive to developers and businesses.”

Once the plan from Land Vision is completed in early 2011, Bender said, further development of the village-owned Lakefront Park could begin, possibly in the coming year depending on money.

Bender acknowledged other mayors and village boards have talked about downtown redevelopment and plans were created to spur economic growth in Fox Lake.

However, he said, those plans never went to fruition due to several issues, mostly involving of lack of money.

Under this newest effort, the goal will be to spur business owners to back the plan and push it forward with the help from the village, Bender said.

“In the past, the politicians tried to push the plan forward, but it's the businesses that need to take this to the next level,” he said. “In truth, politicians come and go, but businesses invest in the community, and the owners are the ones who need to keep pushing this forward.”