The
Village of Algonquin recently released the study report it commissioned from
development consultants Gruen Gruen + Associates with recommendations for
enhancing development in the area of the village along Algonquin Road east of
the Fox river. The study report notes that business properties in the study
area consist of 59% retail stores, 26% construction, industrial and automotive
uses, and 15% medical and health related service businesses. According to the
consultants, residential development in the study area has been hindered by
perceived quality differences between Jacobs High School west of the Fox and
Dundee-Crown High School east of the river, as well as village requirements
that homes built in the area have brick on all four sides, increasing
construction costs. Lower traffic and worker counts east of the Fox also
contribute to restaurant vacancies and lack of grocery and food service
businesses in the study area.
In
order to arrest the declining business environment along Algonquin Road east of
the Fox, the consultants recommend that Algonquin’s village government adopt a
policy of discouraging dense residential and mixed use developments, as well as
stand alone retail locations, and encourage housing development within the
study area by eliminating costly façade requirements. As for business
development, the study recommends reducing regulatory costs and uncertainties
by making medical clinics, physical therapy facilities and MRI centers as permitted
uses, rather than requiring special use permit applications for every clinical
use project.
The
study praises completion of the Algonquin Road congestion relief project just
west of the Fox, but remarks that more work is needed in order to further reduce
traffic congestion in the downtown area at the river, so as to encourage folks
living west of the bridge to travel across to the east side for shopping and
entertainment.
