Glencoe, IL
Comprehensive Plan

Camiros, Ltd., working closely with the village's Plan Commission, prepared a comprehensive plan for this well established community along Lake Michigan's north shore. The plan's purpose was to identify ways to preserve and enhance the village's many physical and social characteristics, created by more than 100 years of local history. An extensive public input process was used to understand residents' feelings about the village and define what created its unique character. The process helped to better define common phrases about communities like "quality of life," "small town character" and "open space" and allowed implementation recommendations to focus on specific aspects of those concepts.

The focal point of the plan was a mission statement and series of guiding principles. The recommendations of the plan flowed from those notions and addressed maintenance items (aspects of the village to be preserved), enhancement actions (areas to be improved through ongoing planning) and external changes (tools for dealing with future issues).

A detailed subarea plan for the downtown was another key component of that planning effort. The downtown plan focused on "fine tuning" the downtown based the village's objectives for the business district, market realities in the area and the current status of several long running land use issues. The recommendations included ideas for improving the downtown's visibility from both physical and marketing perspectives, streetscape enhancements, options for business expansion, parking and parking lot improvements, and facade improvements.