Des Plaines seeks input on Five Corners

Des Plaines is ready to put some plans on the table for the Five Corners redevelopment area -- and officials want your help.

The public is invited to attend a roundtable discussion Thursday hosted by the consultant team hired to draft a plan for the 70-acre area.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the second-floor banquet room at the Des Plaines Golf Center, 353 N. Des Plaines River Road.

Officials want to focus Thursday's discussion on a 20-acre area in the northern part of the district bordering Golf Road that includes only businesses, community development director Michael Conlan said.

"That's the area we think has probably the most potential," Conlan said.

Last July, aldermen commissioned a development plan for the tax-increment financing district. A TIF district freezes property tax payments to local governments for up to 23 years. The extra tax revenue collected as the property is developed and increases in value pays off the original improvements.

Representatives of the team of Chicago-area firms Stephen B. Friedman & Co., The Lakota Group Inc. and Gewalt Hamilton Associates Inc. will be at the public meeting.

"They're going to have kind of a blueprint," said 3rd Ward Alderman Laura Murphy, chairwoman of the city's community development committee.

There's still talk of big-box retail floating around, but don't look for any "brand names" Thursday since officials say there are no firm plans yet for any redevelopment.

Consultants will be looking for feedback from the public and introducing their own ideas.

City officials have met with Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, which has a development in Bolingbrook.

It is just one of the private developers that has contacted the city with interest in the redevelopment project, officials said.

The Five Corners district, centered around Rand and River roads, has generated controversy since redevelopment would affect businesses already there.

But city officials warn that Thursday's meeting won't be a chance for opponents to resurrect complaints about the district itself. Rather, Murphy said, it will offer an opportunity for public input on redevelopment potential.