McHenry Times

The City of Crystal Lake recently heard a presentation by Jodi Mariano on the future of downtown.

Jody Mariano, a principal planner at Teska Urban Planning, presented the findings of her downtown survey to the Crystal Lake City Council at a Dec. 6 meeting. The survey was conducted to gauge public opinion and figure out where to go with future plans for the city and downtown area, specifically the public areas.

The community poll was conducted during the fall of this year and had 835 responses as well as more than 1,700 additional comments on various topics. Respondents were positive about their thoughts on downtown, but many said that they wanted more areas to sit outside, places to dine, more shopping and dining options, and more landscaping and beautification throughout. Respondents also wanted more special events and concerts in the downtown area. They gave a prioritized list of possible projects including a market street, outdoor plaza, and bandshell.

"You have a very engaged community," Mariano said in the meeting. "We had over 1,700 people give us just individual comments and responses. So and I will say that for the most part, I've shared with staff these very positive responses. A lot of times we will do projects like this and we'll hear a pretty fair amount of negative responses, people that don't want these types of projects in their community, but for the most part, and you'll see this here in the responses, the majority of responses we heard of people are very positive about these types of projects."

The council discussed the responses and possible projects. There was widespread support for the proposed Brick Street Market idea as it would be an easy and well-supported project. There was also a sentiment to make sure that all projects done would keep the historical flavor of downtown that all the residents love and care about. The council additionally discussed funding, preferring a business development district to a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district.