Community Image and Character (Revised April 26, 2003)
Developed by Participants at the First and Second Visioning Sessions
Goal:
To maintain and enhance an attractive and distinctive community that builds upon and preserves Homer Glen?s countryside character, unique natural resources and abundance of open space.
|94.8% of the workshop attendees on April 26, 2003 agreed or strongly agreed with this goal statement.|
Objectives: (Listed in order of urgency for implementation)
- Promote attractive and well designed residential and
commercial development that meets community development goals.
- Identify special character area, tailoring growth to
ensure that unique natural resources are supported and enhanced.
- Create and attractive centralized and distinctive
town center, with parks, recreation center, municipal building, and cultural
center accessible by walking or cycling.
- Minimize negative visual impacts of development such
as light pollution, obtrusive or unsightly signage, and parking areas.
- Maintain and enhance the village?s rural
atmosphere.
- Safeguard Homer Glen?s environmental features and
natural resources as distinguishing features of the community.
- Continue to involve community residents in planning,
decision making, and plan implementation.
- Find ways to preserve the agricultural uses that
contribute to the rural character of the community.
- Ensure community visual image within each district so
that all parts contribute to overall village image.
Goal:
Preservation, protection and enhancement of the existing and potential natural resources and wildlife habitat that are enjoyed by village residents. |97.3% of the workshop attendees on April 26, 2003 agreed or strongly agreed with this goal statement.|
Objectives: (Listed in order of urgency for implementation)
- Prepare an area-wide inventory that identifies natural resources and habitats that are unique to Homer Glen.
- Prepare a plan based on the area-wide inventory to
preserve and manage existing and potential natural resources and habitats that
emphasizes larger, connected areas rather than small, isolated pockets.
- Educate residents about the role that natural
resources and wildlife play in maintaining a high quality of life in the village
and residents roles in protection and restoration efforts.
- Adopt design guidelines and ordinances for new
development that support the preservation and protection of natural resources
and environmentally sensitive areas.
- Develop incentive measures for landowners and
developers to preserve and create natural areas, including the use of
conservation easements.
- Encourage natural landscaping on both public and
private properties throughout the village.
- Encourage access by community residents, especially
children, to public wildlife habitats and natural areas.
Open Space (Revised, April 26, 2003)
Goal:
Protection and enhancement of the extensive open space areas that are essential to the overall image and character of Homer Glen. |91.9% of the workshop attendees on April 26, 2003 agreed or
strongly agreed with this goal statement.|
Objectives: (All of these objectives were identified as needed immediately)
Develop Ordinances for:
- Wetland Protection
- Stream Protection
- Stormwater Management
- Preserving agricultural lands
- Develop an interconnected greenway system ? an Emerald Necklace.
- Require land set-asides for open space as part of development process.
- The village should only hire environmentally sensitive firms (engineering, etc) to review development proposals.
Goal:
A Parks and Recreation system that promotes healthy lifestyles by offering active and passive recreational opportunities for residents, employees, and visitors, and enhances the overall image and character of the community. |92.5% of the workshop attendees on April 26, 2003 agreed or strongly agreed with this goal statement.|
Objectives: (Listed in order of urgency for implementation)
- Create the means and mechanisms to own, manage and
maintain parks and recreation opportunities.
- Cooperate with citizens, community groups, and
various levels of government to develop a comprehensive parks, open space and
recreation plan that reflects goals and objectives from the Green Community
process. This process should
respect land differences for appropriate uses.
- Develop design guidelines for development of
community proposal that encourages trails development and offer recreation
amenities for employees.
- Develop a variety of active and passive recreation
opportunities for all, including special needs, such as neighborhoods, community
parks, trails and open spaces that link to and complement the regional open
space, parks, and recreation facilities in the Homer Glen area.
- Develop a multi-use parks, commons, and recreation
center as part of a new Town Center to create a central gathering place and activity area.
- Develop a network of multi-us trails and pathways to
provide connections between subdivisions, schools, parks, and commercial areas.
- Identify creative funding mechanisms in order to
achieve and implement park, open space, and recreation objectives.
Goal:
A coordinated, sustainable system of roadways, pedestrian facilities, recreational pathways and public transportation services that provides for the safe and efficient movement of vehicles and pedestrians and enhances the countryside character and environmental amenities of the Village.
|89.7% of the workshop attendees on April 26, 2003 agreed or strongly agreed with this goal statement.|
Objectives: (Listed in order of urgency for implementation)
- Promote the Homer Glen vision by requiring naturally landscaped, wide roadways and corridors ? for example, requiring 80-foot minimum right-of-way in new residential developments ? and consider these
features integral to the transportation plan.
- Develop a comprehensive network of multi-use trails
and greenways to link residential subdivisions with schools, parks, shopping
areas, public facilities, open spaces, forest preserves and other multi-use
trails in the area.
- Develop an integrated transportation and land-use
plan for the Village that identifies an efficient pattern of land-use and
transportation-system design that minimizes congestion and through-traffic on
roads under Village jurisdiction.
- Incorporate an assessment of the impact of regional
transportation plans (for example, I-355, Caton Farms Road/Bruce Road/Strategic
Regional Arterial plan) into the integrated transportation and land-use plan.
- Improve transportation safety on existing roadways by
evaluating the need for guard rails, street lighting, roadway profiles and other
approaches.
- Work with state and county transportation agencies to
achieve these objectives along state and county routes into, out of and through
the Village.
Goal:
Plentiful, high quality surface and groundwater resources that protect the quality of life for residents and all ecosystems, especially wetlands, by reducing the impacts on these systems. |92.3% of the workshop attendees on April 26, 2003 agreed or strongly agreed with this goal statement.|
Objectives: (Listed in order of urgency for implementation)
Gather and assess data needed to protect key water resource areas and to develop growth
strategies. Data to be collected includes, but is not limited to the following:
- Hydrology and hydraulic studies
- Soil analysis
- Historic surveys
- Longitudinal profiles
- Vegetation
- Stormwater run-off
- Floodplains, wetlands, etc. This data will help to determine carrying capacity.
To have an education program that:
- Educates elected officials to provide authority and resources.
- Educates stakeholders (e.g., residents, landowners, business owners, developers) as to how land-use affects water resources and to promote low impact development and green development.
- Educates the educators, establishes environmental education in schools, develops interpretive signage for natural resource features and drainage, and establishes a ?Watershed Watch? program and voluntary monitoring.
- Develop and enforce ordinances that support water resource objectives and goals.
- Tie in land use study with development of comprehensive plan.
- Utilize design solutions that reduce impervious surfaces, bring water and stormwater to public attention, and increase use of native landscaping.