Homewood, Richton Park adopt transit-oriented development plans funded through RTA Community Planning program

This spring, transit-oriented development (TOD) plans were adopted by the villages of Homewood and Richton Park that will make these communities more transit-friendly, thanks to support from the RTA Community Planning program. This program provides funding and technical assistance to local governments to help foster growth of sustainable, equitable, walkable, and transit-friendly communities. Since 1998, more than 200 projects have been completed.

Village of Homewood

The Village of Homewood’s TOD plan was adopted by the Village Board of Trustees in April. It focuses on the village’s downtown area, including its Metra station and two major commercial and mixed-use corridors. Plan goals include:

Identify gaps in sidewalk and bicycle networks and identify new sidewalk, bicycle facilities, crosswalks, and other infrastructure improvements that could increase safety and connectivity in downtown.
Examine market conditions and propose TOD concepts on underutilized or vacant parcels in downtown.
Develop wayfinding signage concepts and ideas that could improve navigation within downtown.

The plan solicited public comments and ideas from residents via a robust community engagement effort that consisted of Steering Committee meetings, engagement events at community gatherings like the Fall Fest, pop-up engagements at local businesses, and focus groups.

The plan’s recommendations focus on how to improve access to the downtown area, how to enable easier and more comfortable travel within downtown, how to encourage people to spend more time downtown, and recommended development concepts for a selection of key opportunity sites for redevelopment. Some of these recommendations include:

New design concepts for the viaducts that serve as entry points into downtown.
New bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure including new bike lanes, new crosswalks, and installation of curb extensions at crosswalks.
Strengthen the Homewood Business Association through creation of a Special Service Area, hiring an Executive Director, and becoming an Illinois Main Street affiliate, which will provide additional funding and opportunities for new services and programming in downtown.
Install metered parking on Ridge Road, Harwood Avenue, and Dixie Highway at high demand locations to encourage parking space turnover and ensure more consistent parking availability.
Mixed use development concepts at four different sites in downtown.

Village of Richton Park

The Village of Richton Park’s TOD plan was adopted by the Village Board of Trustees in May. It focuses on the roughly half-mile area surrounding the Richton Park Metra station. The plan was built on previous TOD plan efforts, most recently a 2008 Illustrative Plan that contained recommendations that were not implemented. Previous plans relied heavily on investment from the private sector, but since the 2008 plan, the Village has acquired more than 10 different parcels in the study area, which will allow the Village to play a larger role in implementing the recommendations of the plan. Plan goals include:

Identify multi-modal accessibility gaps resulting from lack of sidewalks, bicycle facilities, crosswalks, or curb ramps that are compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards and propose recommended improvements.
Examine market conditions and opportunities for residential and commercial development projects in the station area.
Analyze the potential for consolidating existing surface parking at the Richton Park Metra station and offer recommended development options resulting from parking consolidation.

The plan involved a multifaceted community engagement strategy that included public workshops, a Steering Committee, an online survey, and stakeholder interviews.

The plan’s recommendations focus on improving pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in the study area, fostering TOD through parking consolidation and rearrangement of Metra parking, and attracting new development through public investment in open spaces and infrastructure. Some of these recommendations include:

Convert Richton Road to two-way operation and extend this roadway south to create a walkable street grid.
Create new shared use paths along Sauk Trail and Governors Highway to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety and accessibility.
Reduce amount of space dedicated for Metra parking, attract new TOD through the creation of a public Village Green space adjacent to the station, and establish new parcel lines that are conducive to TOD.
Pursue redevelopment of Village-owned land in the study area through RFP and sale of Village-owned property.

Learn more about the RTA’s Community Planning program.