Next up for Glen Ellyn streetscape plan: project's aesthetics

The best part of a home improvement show comes when the builder passes the baton to the designer and the blank slate turns into a stylish space.

Glen Ellyn is preparing for that point in a downtown streetscape project when the focus turns to appearances, the aesthetic features that will convey a sense of place and enhance the area's historic ambience.

Village trustees have mapped out a roughly $25 million to $26 million plan to ensure the downtown environment keeps its vibrancy for the next 40 or so years. The project encompasses new parking configurations, water and sewer infrastructure, roadwork and tree plantings to essentially reforest the central business district.

Now, the village is honing in on the building materials and street furnishings that will contribute to a consistent look and feel for downtown.

A village board workshop on Monday will delve into material selection for crosswalks, decorative pavements, seat walls, planters and lighting.

Urban planners are using ongoing or recent downtown streetscape projects in Algonquin, Batavia and Wheaton, in addition to the village's own heritage, as a reference point.

The village plans to launch the downtown facelift with underground utility construction beginning in spring 2021. That's after the Frida Kahlo exhibit opening this June at the College of DuPage, a major artistic coup expected to draw 150,000 visitors and more than $8 million in tourism dollars to the area.

The village would look to stagger the work over multiple construction seasons to minimize the disruption to businesses. A tentative timeline has streetscape construction starting in spring 2022 and concluding in 2023.

As a preview of what's to come, the village still plans to have mock-up displays in up to three areas to show what decorative fixtures and amenities would look like.

"We'll get some feedback from the community before we make a final decision on that component of it," Village Manager Mark Franz said.

The sample displays will go up in late spring or early summer at these tentative locations: the northwest corner of Main and Crescent Boulevard near M & Em's boutique; the southwest corner of Main and Pennsylvania near Marché; and southeast corner of Pennsylvania and Glenwood Avenue.

The mock-ups originally were set to be put in place in late fall, but an early winter and "lengthy procurement" of specialty aggregate sidewalk materials postponed the installation, according to a village memo from engineers.

A 2013 streetscape plan and parking study recommends brick pavers along the street side of sidewalks and a herringbone pattern for pedestrian crosswalks.

In a preference survey, visitors to an open house a year ago in January also favored the aesthetics of fired clay brick pavers as a sidewalk accent instead of exposed aggregate and plain concrete.

Durable but more expensive brick pavers would complement the exterior patterns on the downtown's Tudor-style buildings and the Glen Ellyn Civic Center.

By contrast, exposed aggregate offers more colors and textures but has "minimal aesthetic value" and remains "extremely susceptible" to damage from de-icing salt, according to a 90-page presentation by Civiltech Engineering Inc.

The firm is completing the second phase of an engineering study that will result in construction-ready drawings for the streetscape project.

"We're hoping to have this wrapped by the end of this year so we can start planning the construction cycle beginning in spring of next year," Franz said.

Trustees also will consider a menu of options for what Civiltech calls "place-making items." Outdoor fireplaces - like the ones along Front Street in downtown Wheaton and along Third Street in downtown Geneva - fall into that category, as do gateway arches and festoon lighting.

Last year, the public works department strung the lighting in Shock's Square as an example of a permanent location for festoon bulbs. The lighting could help make Shock's Square more of a gathering place beside a parking lot along Pennsylvania Avenue between Main Street and Forest Avenue, the same block as A Toda Madre.