Bartlett panel brainstorms on enticing shoppers

Bartlett's economic development commission met Monday to discuss, for a third time, ways to get more residents and commuters to regularly visit the village's downtown business district.

The village board passed the issue along to the commission earlier this year in hopes of getting suggestions for ways to improve the area.

Less than a dozen residents were at Monday's meeting, but Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski said about 40 business owners, residents, commuters and representatives from the Bartlett Chamber of Commerce came to a meeting in July. He said residents are welcome to attend next month's economic development commission meeting to offer their opinion.

“We want that input,” he said. “(The commissioners are) still gathering a lot of input.”

Economic Development Coordinator Tony Fradin said the formal recommendations that will eventually be passed along to the village board could be as small — and important — as adding signage to let people know there is free parking in the Metra parking lot on weekends and after 4 p.m. on weekdays.

“The progress has been pretty good and they've heard a lot of different ideas from business owners, from residents and just interested parties,” he said. “I think the commissioners are looking at a lot of good information. … We're definitely heading in the right direction with this.”

Fradin said about 25 percent of the storefronts in the downtown business district are vacant.

Some short-term plans suggested by the commissioners Monday included hosting more events in the downtown area; continued advertising of the free Metra parking; holding a chamber-sponsored business expo at the train station; sending out email blasts about events downtown; and using sandwich boards to advertise downtown businesses and events.

Some of the ideas mentioned for long-term improvements included cleaning up the buildings and yards of downtown businesses; reworking downtown traffic patterns; referring businesses to resources like the Elgin Community College business development center to help them be successful; constructing a pedestrian plaza with an area for entertainment; and forming a committee focused solely on event planning and tourism.

The commissioners agreed to try to finalize formal recommendations for the village board at the commission's next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9, at village hall, 228 S. Main St.

Visitors: Commissioners to try and finalize recommendations at next meeting