North Cook News

The village of Wheeling had a presentation on the Restaurant Row proposal.

"This effort began quite a while ago when the board dedicated monies in recognition of the value that we all know exists in Restaurant Row as part of our history and wanting to make sure that we are able to appropriately preserve it as times change," Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said. "And I think you will see tonight that we have created an excellent plan moving forward. And an important footnote to that is that this is not just a paper plan. This is while it's a living fluid document. We've already started taking action on some of the items that you're going to see presented tonight. It does relate directly to multiple facets of our strategic plan. But this is a guiding document that we will use to make decisions about development, not just on restaurant row, but in all of Wheeling. And it does work hand in hand with our master plan and our strategic plan. I think this is this is the result of great effort. And I think something that we should be very proud of."

The Lakota Group served as consultants for the village’s restaurant row plan and gave a presentation on the past year’s work on a plan to revitalize and protect the village’s Restaurant Row. The project had three phases: engage and understand to get a feel for the project and area as a whole, envision and explore to look at all possible options, and implement to enact some of the decided-upon measures for Restaurant Row. 

The research involved a lot of engagement with stakeholders and residents. The 12 sessions of interviews with stakeholders, an open house of 270 people and a later open house with 80 others, and a survey that got almost 350 responses. The determination from these interviews helps focus the plan to include objectives like enhancing buildings and public spaces, improving access to the river, strengthening the quality of life and creating a distinct identity that could help promote and differentiate the area. 

Some of the plans that they created and have started to implement include street improvements - sidewalks, lighting, landscaping, pedestrian crossings and access. They also plan to improve the parking situation and have a major goal of creating a visible and memorable brand to thread throughout Restaurant Row and utilize to advertise it. The presentation was done by Kevin Clark, senior planner, and Hannah Bader, planner and designer.