General Information
The Village of Homer Glen is located just minutes southwest of Chicago in Will County, Illinois. Homer Glen was incorporated April 17, 2001, and soon afterward volunteers crafted the Village's first Mission Statement and Core Values. The Village is a unique blend of open space, beautiful residential developments and vibrant commercial corridors.
Homer Glen’s gently rolling terrain is dotted with prairie grasses, stands of trees and cultivated fields. Two 18-hole golf courses help the Village attain its rolling vista. A sizeable number of residents have horses on their property. The Village is bisected by three major creeks and is also home to a multitude of wildlife such as beavers, coyotes, deer, fox and woodchucks.
The Forest Preserve District of Will County has over 1,300 acres of land within the Village. Featuring two pavilions, the District’s Messenger Woods Nature Preserve is one of Will County's oldest and most unusual forest preserves. Spring Creek Greenway, part of the Messenger Marsh Preserve, is the Forest Preserve District's only equestrian trail, offering riders a 3.2-mile trail that winds through wooded areas and prairie. The trail can also be used by hikers and cross-country skiers.
Residential development within the Village ranges from subdivisions with lots of 1/3 of an acre in size to subdivisions with lots larger than an acre. Large lot rural estates and small family farms also exist within the northwestern and southeastern portions of the Village.
Homer Glen is also home to a variety of local businesses and nationally recognized stores. The majority of economic development activity is occurring in the Village’s primary commercial corridors of Bell Road, 143rd Street, and 159th Street. For more information regarding economic development opportunities in the Village of Homer Glen, please click here: Business Connect.
Homer Glen is one of Will County's largest municipalities. Upon incorporation, the Village encompassed about 19.9 square miles. Currently (2012), the Village encompasses approximately 22.17 square miles. Ultimately, the Village has the opportunity to increase to about 25 square miles, with the current boundary agreements that are in place.
Based upon the 2010 Census data, the Village’s total population is 24,220. Homer Glen has 7,698 households, with approximately 3.33 residents per household. Over 95% of the homes in the Village are owner occupied.
The median home value is $350,900.
The average household income in Homer Glen is $97,013. Over 94% of Village residents aged 25 years or older are high-school graduates, with nearly 37% of those residents holding a bachelor’s degree or higher. The median age of a Homer Glen resident is 37.9 years old.
Click here for additional information regarding Village of Homer Glen Demographic Data:
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1735835.html
Census
Data Comparison - 2004, 2008, 2012
The Village is served by three excellent grade school districts, which feed
into Lockport Township High School. Three Fire Protection Districts provide
unparalleled service for the residents. The
Homer Township Library actively searches out
and receives grants to benefit all residents, from youth through seniors.
In 1988, the
Homer Township residents approved a referendum to purchase open space for
recreational, environmental and educational uses. The Township maintains a
number of athletic fields, as well as neighborhood parks.
Volunteer athletic associations
provide organized activities for football, cheerleading, baseball, and soccer.
A new privately owned roller rink further enhances children's choices of indoor
soccer and roller hockey. Recently, the local high school won the State
football championship for the second year in a row, and a number of those
football players were players in these athletic associations.
Homer Glen has an extensive network of resident
volunteers who donate
their time, effort and resources to the Village. Because the Village of Homer
Glen does not levy a municipal property tax, volunteers are an integral part of
maintaining additional services to the community.
Following one of the core values of the Village ("A fiscally accountable
government is needed to protect the interests of Homer Glen taxpayers") Homer
Glen has taken the approach of contracting with a number of public and private
entities to provide many of the traditional municipal services:
Police services
are provided through a contract with Will County Sheriff's Department.
All public works functions, including maintenance of 109
miles of streets, bridge maintenance, snowplowing, storm water drainage
maintenance etc., are provided to the citizens of Homer Glen though a contract
with the Homer Township Highway Department.
Fire and Emergency Services are provided by three separate
Fire Protection Districts.
Water and Sanitary Sewer
service is provided by Illinois American Water Company in those areas of the
Village that can be served by water mains.
Homer Glen is a home-rule
municipality governed by a Village President, commonly called Mayor, and by a
Board of Trustees, all of whom are elected at large to overlapping four-year
terms. The village manager position was created by ordinance. The village
manager makes recommendations to the Village Board on measures deemed
appropriate, prepares and proposes the annual budget, and keeps the Village
fully informed on the Village's financial condition.
The Village completed its first
Comprehensive Plan in 2005. This blueprint will ensure that future growth,
development and improvements are compatible with the character of the
community. The Comprehensive Plan places importance on abundant open space,
preservation of environmentally sensitive corridors, supporting tracts of
agricultural land, and estate lifestyles in the western portion of the Village
and blending commerce and residential lifestyles in the eastern portion of the
Village.
In May 2002 the Village of Homer Glen was one of sixteen communities in
Illinois to be awarded the Green Communities Demonstration Grant. The Green
Communities Demonstration Grant Steering Committee was formed in Homer Glen and
soon began Homer Glen's Green Vision
Program. The two-year grant process emphasized and relied heavily on input
from the stakeholders of the Homer Glen community. In 2005, the Homer Glen
Board of Trustees formally adopted the Green Vision Statement and Goals for the
Village of Homer Glen.
The Village of Homer Glen is located in a rapidly growing area of Chicago's
southwest suburbs. When Heartland Real Estate Business
asked industry leaders in suburban Chicago to comment on the state of commercial
real estate in their fields of expertise, Steve Frishman, a principal of
Mid-America Real Estate, stated:
"With strong development continuing along the Randall Road corridor, the
markets to keep an eye on in the near future are the burgeoning towns of
Algonquin in the north, Huntley in the far northwest, and the south Chicago
suburbs of Homer Glen, Plainfield, Frankfort and Mokena."
The challenge will be to blend commercial development with existing
residential developments so that there is minimal impact on the residents. The
Village is committed to providing commercial and retail development that is
ultimately convenient for the residents and continue to retain its semi-rural
atmosphere.
The I-355 Tollway South Extension,
which was completed in November 2007, links I-55 south to I-80 on the western
edge of the community. The Comprehensive Plan earmarked that area for upscale
business parks. These business parks are expected to provide job opportunities
and help build tax revenues.