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Options offered at Glenview Connect presentation

Glenview has some considerations to make.

Erich Dohrer, principal of planning and urban design firm CallisonRTKL in Chicago, presented options for several village "spark sites" at the Glenview Village board's seventh Glenview Connect meeting on May 27.

The range of potential development is a little to a lot, bound by ambition and, of course, money.

Anne Ricker, owner and principal of real estate economy and community strategy firm Ricker Cunningham, the other consultant working on this economic development strategy, said "99 percent" of the communities she works with do not have a permanent fund designated in its budget, as does Glenview.

Regardless, she made it plain that the plans presented May 27 were only options.

"Our goal for you," she said, "is not to spend (municipal funds) all now or on one project, but somehow to regenerate that, keep it at the same level, make it make money for you, use a little bit here and there, build it up again - whatever's important to you."

The whopper among the several spark sites - areas with the most potential to generate economic growth - was the downtown "Chase Block." Dohrer said his team had assembled 17 different plans for the area contained by Glenview and Waukegan roads and Church and Dewes streets.

"This was the key spark site, so if we're really going to make a difference and lean in somewhere, this is the spot," said Glenview Trustee Mary Cooper.

"So, I don't think any of us expects that this comes at no cost. But I think that we're all leaning in hard to this because we want to make sure that this is the right balance of park, retail, residential. However it plays out, we want to get the right balance, and we're going to focus really hard on this. I think we're going to be willing to put some money into this because it's so important."

Ricker said commercial success will follow residential development in the downtown, but in past remote workshops the folks from Callison and Ricker Cunningham heard complaints aplenty from Glenview residents, disdainful of tall and dense residential buildings.

The ones presented May 27 topped out at 4 stories, some over a full block, some shared over a block with 3-story buildings, some on the partial block, others with one or two 3-story buildings on the property.

All had ample open space to take advantage of the river running diagonally through the plot - abandoning River Drive - including three plans with a "Park Strategy." One included a fresh design incorporating a 15,000-square-foot "food hall" and 3.57 acres of open space.

Considerations obviously include cost estimates, which extended from a mere $9 million private cost for the less-developed basic "Park Strategy" to $96 million for a 4-story, mixed-use development with expanded open space.

Also at issue is the economic "gap" between a developer's investment and construction cost, an amount covered by the municipality whether through its coffers, through tax-increment financing, public resources or other sources.

As Ricker said, it's up to the village and its residents whether to go with a development such as the "Park Strategy" with relatively little return or the vastly more expensive large development that has greater economic potential.

Dohrer also presented plans for the Waukegan Road and Milwaukee Avenue corridors, specific sites at The Glen, downtown at Olympia Center and at a couple spots fronted by Glenview Road.

Improvements ranged from basics of zoning code updates and façade improvements to a 4-story, mixed-use development on Glenview Road bordered by Pine and Church streets.

Cooper said residents' priorities favored downtown over Olympia Center while not neglecting The Glen, addressed mainly by reuse of the Arc Light Cinema space.

"I would second that," said Trustee Adam Sidoti.

"When The Glen was being built there was a lot of research done and people just really, really, really wanted a cinema," Cooper said. "And I still think that holds true today. So if we can hang onto that, even if it's a combination movie and live theater, that'd be great."

People will have more chances to state what they really want. The consulting teams will take feedback for their economic development strategic plan and downtown revitalizations and present a draft for review by the Glenview board on June 9, with more conversation to follow.

"There's not a lot of clear consensus," Dohrer said.

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