To All Glen Ellyn Residents & Retailers,
The Village Board has been meeting to review and select one company to create Glen Ellyn's Downtown Long-Term Strategic Plan. The final vote was last night.
After going once around the table and getting mixed results from the Trustees, President Hase tabled the discussion and requested that the Trustees email her their first and second choices. She will then determine who has the most votes and declare a winner at the next Village Board meeting, Monday evening (12/17/07).
We strongly urge you to get involved NOW.
As Go Downtown!, it is our mission to partner with the Glen Ellyn Village, downtown businesses, and area residents to understand the wants and need of area shoppers which will support a vibrant and successful downtown district that is a destination for all residents and surrounding communities. Because of this mission, we need you to help us make POSITIVE change for Glen Ellyn, change that MOVES US FORWARD, not status quo. We need you to get involved so the RIGHT changes are made – changes we can all be happy about in Glen Ellyn!
We need to let the Village Trustees and President know that we are watching and listening during this process. The two firms that have the most votes are Houseal Lavign and Town Builder Studios. The Go Downtown! board enthusiastically endorses Houseal Lavign and has serious concerns about Town Builder Studios.
Here are our concerns:
The main concern is that Town Builder Studios put together a team that consists of the President of Town Builder Studios and 3 individuals from 3 different firms. These 4 individuals have not worked together as a team before. Two have worked together on a project, and another two have worked together on another project, but some have not worked with the others at all and not as a team.
The other major concern we have about Town Builder Studios is that they do not have the tools necessary to allow community involvement as Houseal Lavign does. Town Builder Studios will rely on key interviews with individuals and a few town hall meetings, where they would present a plan for feedback.
Houseal Lavign, on the other hand, has a dedicated server and website built for community involvement where residents would be invited to log on at any time to drag and drop icons and add comments with their concerns and comments about favorite places. Not only that, but Houseal Lavign has just come out with a new software for modeling and analysis that other firms are actually paying them to use for their own projects.
Finally, our last concern with Town Builder Studios is that in their presentation, they stated that they would focus less on basic goods and more on entertainment, restaurants and services. Ideally, they touted a service business that would convert movie reels into discs. They also suggested hosting a knitting party downtown, a dinner by design event as well as a few other event ideas. We are concerned by these comments as they do not address retail mix, property use nor building maintenance. In fact, the Town Builder Studio team stated that they would only focus on what they could control, such as parking and events.
How the voting ended last night:
The voting was as follows: Trustees Sara Lee, Tim Armstrong and Pete Ladesic all voted for Houseal Lavign. Trustees Peter Norton and Jim Comerford voted for Town Home Builders. Trustee Michelle Thorsell voted for Vanderwalle and stated her second vote would be for Houseal Lavign. If President Hase gets to vote, she has voiced she will vote for Town Home Builders. PLEASE review the links and information below and then visit the following Village site to voice your opinion:
www.glenellyn.org/econtact.htm. Please send it by end of day Friday so that it goes into the Trustees packets for Monday.
Voicing your opinion NOW is the most important action you can take to help determine the future of Glen Ellyn. Go Downtown's board members cannot stress enough that the company selected to develop the long-term strategic plan will recommend changes that will affect Glen Ellyn for many years. If you want to help steer the direction of Glen Ellyn's long-term future, it is IMPERATIVE you voice your opinion via comments to the village AND, if possible, attend the meeting on Monday evening (12/17/07) at 7:00pm to ensure the correct firm is selected and that any decision is done in the public eye.
Overview of final two firms:
1. Houseal Lavigne:
www.hlplanning.com. John Houseal will be the project planner and Dan Gardner, a current GE resident and past Trustee, will be on the team. They will partner with McDonough Associates to ensure they have the best preservation team involved on the project. McDonugh was noted as the best at project funding and has considerable experience at historic preservation. Pros: incredible resident involvement options from community meetings to a website where residents can log in and drag/drop and make comments on what is important to them. Also have created a 3D modeling and analysis software that allows the Village to see visually how all the changes will look both to the commercial buildings as well as the surrounding residential ar ea. This firm has also won 3 out of 6 available awards in October 2007 from the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association. Pr ojects include Geneva, Kenilworth, Park Ridge, Winfield and more. They are enthusiastic, have tremendous experience and have identified project deliverables to keep the Village moving forward. They have worked on more than 30 regional clients in last 3 years.
2. Town Builder Studios:
www.townbuilderstudios.com. Jim Louthen is President and will serve as project manager. He will work with 3 other individuals on this project, each from a different firm representing a different area of expertise. Aaron Gruen, from Gruen, Gruen and Associates for Marketing, Walker Parking, for Parking and Traffic, and Bauer Latoza, for Landscape Architect. While some of the above individuals have worked together before, all four have not worked on a project together and some have not worked with others at all. Their experience consists of Robbins Comprehensive Plan (Robbins has a population of 6,300 and has many floodplains), Riverson Mixed-Use Development in Farmington, New Mexico (framed by mesas and rivers an d is an Indian Nation), Fox River Woods (a new neighborhood being created over 400 acres), Berwyn Transit-Oriented Development Study (has not been completed yet), Whittier Creek Neighborhood in Wisconsin (another new 86 acres development) and Hidden Meadows Neighborhood in Park Forest (75 acres next to a Forest Preserve, also a new community of 72 acres of homes and 3 acres of commercial). They did say they had over 25 downtown plans and 250 projects completed, but it is not clear if that is all 4 companies combined or Jim's previous experience at his old company. The above examples are from their website. Aaron Gruen spoke at the presentation of focusing only on what they can control, which includes parking, food and entertainment. He stressed that what works is hosting events downtown such as a knitting party, dinner by designs, movies and jazz programs. He also stressed that service related businesses are a must. Another statement by him was "build it and they will come,” only works in movies. Community involvement would involve providing plans to the community for feedback and key interviews.
YOUR VOICE COUNTS IN THIS DECISION! Send your selection to the Village link:
www.glenellyn.org/econtact.htm.
Again, if you have the time, PLEASE attend the meeting on Monday evening at 7:00pm. We need to show the Village that we have a voice in the company that is selected.
Regards,
Go Downtown!
www.downtownglenellyn.com 
