Photographed by Justin Goh
Residents worked with architects and developers at the second meeting to “build” their version of desirable development.
This spring, the City of Aurora invited the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) to work with the city and a community steering committee to host a series of community meetings to hear from residents about how the city should direct Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money from HUD for the city’s Near East Side neighborhood. During each meeting, held in June and July, 35 to 45 local residents, stakeholders and public officials shared their hopes and vision for the neighborhood.
A special federal designation called a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) allows the city to focus CDBG funds in a specific geographic area. In Aurora, this HUD-approved focus area has a 48 percent Latino population. Key challenges the neighborhood faces include low educational achievement of residents, high rates of retail leakage, and high vacancy rates. Despite these obstacles to prosperity, when polled, stakeholders valued the sense of character, historic architecture, and diversity the neighborhood offers. They also appreciated how walkable the neighborhood is, and its proximity to downtown Aurora.
The first meeting focused on current land use tools and policies in the neighborhood, and a presentation by CMAP on current demographic and market data. The second meeting involved a block exercise where residents used building blocks representing standard residential and commercial building sizes to simulate the type of development they would like to see in the community. Volunteer architects and developers were present to sketch the buildings and test financial feasibility. The end result of this second meeting was a set of development scenarios that were a reflection of residents’ ideas.
The final meeting featured two panel discussions about some of the priorities identified during the first two meetings. Experts from the fields of transportation and community planning, real estate and commercial development, and workforce creation and retention discussed steps Aurora could take that would make desirable development more feasible in the Near East Side. Suggestions ranged from finding a way to create synergies between residents, businesses, and city government, to more specific advice like promoting participation in the Aurora Area Jobs Council.
This image is an example of several development scenarios conceived by community particpants at the second meeting. The block set-up and rendering reflect a desire to maintain existing building heights in the neighborhood while meeting housing stock needs. The tables show how this particular development would work as either affordable or market-rate housing.
Rendering by Mike Hoffman, Teska Associates, Inc.
The Daily Herald and the Aurora Beacon News each ran stories about the meetings. MPC will compile a final report on these meetings that will be used by the city to report to HUD on their CDBG plan as well distributed to participants.
This meeting series was an example of the many ways MPC’s work can be customized for the varying needs of communities throughout the Chicago region. Starting with the participatory planning element of the Corridor Development Initiative (CDI) model, the City of Aurora, CMAP, and MPC were able to facilitate meetings where stakeholders gained an understanding of development opportunities limitations in their areas, communicated community needs to municipal officials, and had the opportunity to get expert opinions on ways to move toward the community they envision.
Read more about MPC’s Corridor Development Initiative, a hands-on opportunity for residents to “build” what they would like to see and consider how it might work in your area!