Thanks to everyone who participated in the Downtown Streetscape Plan! The Downtown Streetscape Plan is focused on improvements to Wilmette and Central Avenues within downtown, and builds upon recent efforts including the Central Ave Phase 1 Plan and Village Center Master Plan.
For information about the planning process, please scroll below. For information about Streetscape Construction, please visit wilmettestreetscape.com
May 2020 Update:
The streetscape plans were issued for bidding by contractors on May 8 and bids are due on June 12. We expect to award the contract by the end of July and anticipate beginning construction activities in mid-August. In the meantime, the Village will be reaching out to local businesses to discuss and coordinate upcoming work.
February 2020 Update:
Final plans have been submitted to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) for review. The Village is waiting on confirmation of the schedule to begin construction. Click here to view the approved Downtown Streetscape Concepts.
June 2019 Update:
The Village of Wilmette is excited to announce that the Village Board approved concepts for the Downtown Streetscape Plan, which is focused on improvements to Wilmette and Central Avenues within downtown. Over the past year, community members provided input into what amenities and improvements they wanted to see, including lighting, sidewalks, roadways and plantings by completing a poll and submitting their thoughts and comments to the Village. The Board members appreciate the community’s thoughtful inputs into this exciting plan for downtown. The Village is using 80% grant funding to pay for the $2 million improvement project. The next step is to turn the approved concepts into detailed engineering plans with construction planned for summer 2020.
February 2019 Update: Big thanks to everyone who came out to the Public Meeting on February 26 at Village Hall! We enjoyed meeting with you all and hearing your inputs about the streetscape concepts.
Please click here for the Slideshow Materials and Presentation Boards and Concept Renderings presented at the meeting.
The design team is compiling the meeting results for an upcoming presentation to Village Board on May 28 at 7:30 PM. All are welcome to attend and please continue to stay involved in this important – and exciting – effort for downtown Wilmette.
Please send comments and questions to downtown@wilmette.com.
Many thanks to everyone who came out to Music on the Green!
Results are in! BIG THANKS to the fine folks in Wilmette for sharing your inputs on the Streetscape Poll. After a whopping 647 responses and hundreds of thoughtful individual comments, we noticed some trends:
Downtown is already a treasured place with unique character. The streetscape should accommodate safe and attractive places for people to gather and visit with friends. Future changes should maintain open access to sidewalks and businesses. Folks LOVE the hanging baskets and decorative tree lighting — and would like to see more native plantings in the streetscape.
Additional details are summarized in the infographic below, and for more detailed results click here.