New Downtown Garage, Street System Planning Study Underway

A process is now underway to plan and design a new parking garage in downtown Oak Park, as well as improving adjacent streets and streetscapes, key steps in implementing the Village’s Downtown Master Plan. The future of the Marion Street Mall will be addressed as well. The public is invited to participate in the process by attending a series of community meetings to be held at Village Hall, 123 Madison St. Active public involvement in the design process ultimately will result in better planning decisions since the views of those who live, work and own property in the area will be part of the discussions.

A planning and design team has been selected to conduct the process. The team includes Desman Associates for the functional planning, design and engineering of the parking garage; Ross, Barney & Jankowski for architectural design of the garage; The Lakota Group for area planning and streetscape design; and Metro Transportation Group for transportation and overall parking related issues.

Following are the community meeting dates, locations, and topics:

Community Session I: 7 – 10 p.m., Wed., Sept 13 – This workshop will focus on planning goals, design issues and concerns, and transportation, as well as opportunities for downtown development and improvements. Initial findings, observations and strategies will be presented.

Community Session II: 7 – 10 p.m., Wed., Oct. 18 – A summary of the site/area analysis, as well as development options, design concepts and preliminary transportation recommendations will be presented. Attendees will be invited to give feedback on the ideas presented.

Community Session III: 7 – 10 p.m., Wed., Nov. 15 – The preferred design direction created from input gathered during the public process will be presented and attendees invited to provide feedback that will be used to finalize the design direction.

Anyone wishing to participate in the process, but unable to attend a community session will be able to access information on this web page where information presented and gathered at the community sessions will be posted as it becomes available. Comments and questions also can be sent by e-mail to ParkingAndStreetscape@desman.com or by telephone to 708.358.5722.