PZC Recommends Land Use Plan | Downtown Design Standards | Library Parking Deck Discussion

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PZC Recommends Land Use Master Plan

The Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday unanimously voted to recommend approval for a revised version of the city’s Land Use Master Plan. The commission voted against a previous version in March 2020, mainly because all housing types were grouped into one category. The new plan features residential zone subcategories for low, medium, and high-density housing types, and reduced the number of key sites for development. Some community members gave critiques for the plan, and city staff said they would review comments and decide whether to make minor revisions before sending the plan to council for review.

Downtown Design Standards

Also at the meeting, the commission recommended city staff add an extra guideline to the city’s downtown design standards, to limit artistic accents that lean too far toward branding and signage. The recommendation comes in part after the Naperville Downtown Advisory Committee said the façade of JoJo’s Shake Bar – which includes dripping blue accents – doesn’t violate any current design standards. Commissioners said there should be room for artistic choices in downtown design, but also barriers in place to stop what they called a slippery slope.

Nichols Parking Deck Discussion

The city of Naperville is once again pursuing the idea of a parking deck at Nichols Library. At the library board meeting on Wednesday, city officials sought input detailing any interest in the project. The topic has long been debated by residents, but the city is now entertaining initial discussions and would like to host meetings to get community input. Previous steps taken to build a parking deck stopped in 2008 shortly after the approval of the final design the prior year. The project was halted because of the Great Recession and other parking decks coming on line in the downtown area. In 2008, the project came with an $18 million price tag. Estimates show a parking deck in 2022 could cost the city $23.5 million. Last night the library board reached an informal consensus to keep communication on this topic with the city going.

Downtown Parking Enforcement

The Downtown Naperville Alliance (DNA) is calling on the Naperville Police Department to beef-up enforcement of street parking in the city’s downtown. The request made at Tuesday’s city council meeting comes after noticing some vehicles were parked longer than the posted time limits allow. Offenders will be subject to one warning before tickets are issued for every violation thereafter. DNA hopes the increase in enforcement will better promote access to downtown businesses.

Photo Contest Winner

A feeding time photo has nabbed top spot in the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s 2021 Preserve the Moment contest. Eileen Capodice of Minooka snapped this shot of a male woodpecker feeding its nestling at McKinley Woods. She won a $500 gift card for her winning photo. Second place and a $250 gift card went to Lockport resident Bob Bruining for his forest floor mingled with golden sugar maples shot at Messenger Woods. And in third, winning a $150 gift card was this triumphant looking crayfish at Hickory Creek Preserve, captured by Meagan Crandall of New Lenox.

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