wood dale comprehensive plan |open house #2 summary · pdf filewhile the first open house was...
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Wood Dale Comprehensive Plan Open House #2 Summary www.wooddaleplan.org | 1
Wood Dale Comprehensive Plan |Open House #2 Summary
Wood Dale residents once again showed great enthusiasm and energy for the planning process that is guiding
development of the Citys Comprehensive Plan. Over 250 community members attended the second public open
house held on Thursday, October 19th at the former SBT Bank building. The meeting featured a raffle, activities for
kids, and food provided by local restaurants.
While the first open house was focused on forming a collective vision for the future of Wood Dale, this time
residents provided feedback on preliminary ideas and specific recommendations that they might want to see in the
plan. The format of the meeting was similar to the first open house, with six separate interactive stations where
participants either wrote comments, used stickers to vote on ideas, or simply discussed the concepts amongst
themselves and with the project team. The input received at each station is summarized below and will help to
inform the remainder of the planning process.
Goals and Objectives This station presented a condensed version of the draft goals and objectives (the full draft document is on the
project website here). Green and red stickers were provided for people to vote on whether they agree or disagree
with each statement.
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Comments on the draft goals and objectives included:
More sidewalks and street lights
Better traffic control at Foster and Central
Make industrial area cleaner and more presentable
Bus service to Georgetown Square and Target
Better communication with Public Works
Make public parks more dog friendly and improve playgrounds for children
Develop a downtown area; attract new business and have more events
Subareas This section featured a map of Wood Dale highlighting each of the four subareas, as well as a board which asked
residents to vote for the words or phrases that best describe their vision for the future of each area. The top three
winners for each subarea are listed below:
Irving Park Road (Central)
1. Town Core
2. Pedestrian friendly
3. Fun!
Irving Park Road (West)
1. Shopping centers
2. Walkable/bikeable
3. Attractive
Irving Park Road (East)
1. Local stores
2. Attractive
3. Easy to access
Thorndale Road Corridor
1. Corporate Main Street
2. Quality design
3. Business Park
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Planning & Development At this station, participants were asked to consider the question, How can development work in Wood Dale? and
a second board presented a draft concept of potential development in the Thorndale Corridor. The conversation
here seemed to confirm a common understanding by residents that the market has changed significantly since the
2009 Thorndale Corridor Master Plan was completed, indicating that a Corporate Main Street concept now fits
better at the intersection of Wood Dale Road and I-390.
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Written comments included:
A modern mixed-use area like Astellas/Lake I-35
Would like to build a new home but no place to build
Hoping any development will be better than Lake Street & I-355 development
Astellas has a better parking lot; I always feel caught in the Lake St. layout
Urban Design The two boards focused on urban design aimed to gauge what types of design elements are most favored by
residents, as well as how much they value quality design along commercial corridors. An overwhelming majority of
participants voted that they Strongly Agree with the statement: Commercial corridors should be attractive to
make them more appealing to residents and visitors.
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Wood Dale Comprehensive Plan Open House #2 Summary www.wooddaleplan.org | 5
Transportation The transportation section presented initial ideas for bike and pedestrian improvements, specifically regarding
improvements to the Salt Creek Trail Bike Path and a potential road diet on Wood Dale Road. Comments on these
include:
Ped/bike signs at Wood Dale & Lake
No right turn when peds present
Bike path connecting Wood Dale Rd and Addison along Elizabeth Drive
Safe crossing on Prospect over Thorndale frontage roads
Exercise stations along bike path
Foster Ave sidewalks or bike path
Enhanced lighting and sidewalks
Connect proposed Wood Dale Road path to Salt Creek trail, Wood Dale reservoir
North of Irving not goodtoo much traffic especially during all rush hours
Enforce education of bike lanes
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Branding Three slide presentations were made in a focus group-like setting. Participants were generally
supportive of both the "Port of Wood Dale" brand positioning and the approach to the visual identity,
especially in regards to the proposed use of the new logo as an "endorser" by other civic organizations.
Participants in each group also commented on the need of Wood Dale to elevate its overall marketplace
profile and supported the idea of a future municipal marketing program.
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