The idea of a town center for Homer Glen has a long history. The 2005 Comprehensive Plan talks about the potential. Residents want a pedestrian-focused and family-friendly center special to Homer Glen where they can gather to meet friends and enjoy dining, entertainment and shopping. The Town Center Visioning process undertaken in 2023 responds to this community dream.
The Town Center Visioning process was designed to listen to resident input, study the market and create concepts for how a town center could feasibly be developed in Homer Glen. The results provide land use concepts and do not constitute actual development proposals. As part of the visioning process, a key finding in the study of real estate conditions indicates many more rooftops would need to be built to attract and keep the restaurants, eateries and independently-owned shops desired by residents in a town center. Current codes do not allow denser housing and further discussion would be needed.
If and when the community supports moving forward, many more steps would need to occur before the Village could be prepared to attract developers. This will take years, even if there would be support to start now. The land use concepts resulting from this visioning process are just the first step.
Thank you to the hundreds of residents who participated in focus groups, surveys, and workshops! A wrap up of the visioning process with resulting concepts for development of a town center will be presented to the Plan Commission on March 21, 2024, and to the Village Board on April 10, 2024. The Village Board will determine what, if any, future steps it may wish to take.
A Summary Report is now available on the Village website here.