Oak Park Newspaper

The Village of Oak Park is initiating a neighborhood planning study
for improving the Lake Street District from Ridgeland Avenue to Austin Boulevard. (This includes a portion of Austin Avenue, North Boulevard and South Boulevard.)

The Village would like to invite you to participate in this planning
study by attending a series of community meetings in your district. Public involvement in the planning process is very important in establishing a shared vision for this district which will ultimately
result in better planning decisions for Lake Street because you,
your neighbors and local business and property owners will all be involved in the creation of the plan recommendations.

Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) Team: The Village of Oak Park has selected the Solomon Cordwell Buenz planning team to conduct this study; their team incorporates Business Districts Inc. (BDI) for
market related issues, Fish Transportation Group (FTG) for transportation and parking issues; and Wiss Janney, Elstner
Associates, Inc. (WJE) for historic preservation issues.

The following is the list of community meeting dates,
locations and topics:

Location for all three Community Sessions: 3 Erie Court -
West Suburban Medical Center - Lower Level Lecture Hall - Please be sure to check in at the Information Desk.

COMMUNITY SESSION I: August 22, 2006, 7-9 PM
This meeting will focus on identifying critical issues in the district. The planning team will present initial district
findings, observations and development strategies with an interactive community dialogue to identify critical
issues for the Lake Street District.

COMMUNITY SESSION II: September 19, 2006 7-9 PM
This meeting will focus on a wide variety of ideas for
improving the business district from the perspective of
the physical image, to increasing the market potential of the existing and future businesses. The team will present a
variety of planning alternatives for consideration by and feed back from the community. These alternatives will include
design guidelines, development ideas and business strategies
for establishing a future vision for the Lake Street District.

COMMUNITY SESSION III: October 24, 2006, 7-9 PM
This meeting will focus on reaching consensus on the plan recommendations and community priorities. This will be an informative presentation by the team which summarizes
the plan recommendations for feedback and prioritization
of key components.

NOTE: If you are unable to attend a community session or wish to review or comment on the project, a special web site will be created which can be accessed via the Village of Oak Park’s web site at www.oak-park.us. All of the information presented and gathered
at the community sessions will be posted on the project web site.
Also, a special e-mail address (LakeStreetPlan@oak-park.us) has been created for public use at any stage of the process where you
can comment or ask questions about the planning process. Your e-mails will be sent directly to the Village Planner and Solomon Cordwell Buenz’s project manager. You can also contact the
Village by telephone at 708/358-5418.