Story posted Thursday, June 18, 2009
Village Eyes STAR Line Possibilities
Map provided by the Village of Arlington Hts. shows area targeted for redevelopment if new regional rail line is built.
By DWIGHT ESAU Journal & Topics Reporter
A decade of discussion has built a fairly solid level of public and private support for the proposed Suburban Transit Access Route (STAR Line).
This is especially true, officials say, in Arlington Hts., one of the largest communities through which the proposed 55-mile rail line would pass.
Armed with favorable survey results from property owners, businesses, and employers in the village, officials have already developed a visionary master plan for an 85-acre area in south Arlington Hts. along the Northwest Tollway. The area is bounded by Algonquin Road, Arlington Hts. Road, the tollway, and Clearbrook Drive and the Lost Creek townhouses.
A multi-million-dollar, high-density, mixed-use plan that includes hotels, an array of residences, cultural areas, office buildings, and retail commercial areas is on the drawing boards and has been recommended by the village's Plan Commission. It is expected to go before the village board later this summer.
Results of surveys conducted with stakeholders in the Arlington Hts. area in 2008 have been a vital part of the planning process, village officials say.
Here are a few highlights of what village planners say these surveys showed:
* 88% of property owners in the Metra STAR Line area in the village said their employees/tenants would use the proposed station. All of them said their employees/tenants currently use public transit and/or car pool.
* About a third of the owners indicated they would provide a shuttle service for their employees or tenants. Nearly 80% said they would consider participating in alternate redevelopment models in the area in the future.
* Nearly three-fourths of the 52 businesses in the area said their employees would use the STAR Line station, and more than a third of them said they would provide a shuttle service to other transportation facilities for their employees.
* More than half of the 10 largest employers in the village said their employees would use the STAR Line station, and nearly three-fourths of them said some of their employees now use public transit.
* Nearly 90% of the employers said they would provide a shuttle service to other transportation for their employees.
It will be close to another decade before anything tangible happens, however, a village official said this week.
"This is a long-term vision by the village for some redevelopment in this area," said Charles Perkins, director of community development. "It is envisioned as a joint public-private project, similar to what we have done in our downtown area. It depends primarily on federal funding for the new rail line to be constructed in the median of the tollway. If that is approved, we can then move forward with more specific planning with developers."
The northwest portion of the STAR Line would run from O'Hare Airport to Hoffman Estates and then south to Joliet. It is envisioned to serve 1.2 million employees who work near the line, and 1.6 million residents who live near it.
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