The Milwaukee Avenue corridor in Niles, Illinois, once the commercial center of the Village, is currently facing numerous challenges to successful redevelopment. The corridor lacks a discernable identity, a cohesive urban fabric, and a rational organization of land use and building form. There are also a number of physical design and traffic operations constraints that restrict transformative and comprehensive change, including high traffic, shallow lots, and irregular parcel configurations created by the corridor’s northwest radial orientation.
The Village of Niles hired Camiros to create a plan for the corridor, including alternative development scenarios, land use concepts, and specific redevelopment recommendations for a 2.5 mile long section of the Milwaukee Avenue Corridor, running through the heart of the Village. The intent of the planning process was to create a bold vision for the future of the Milwaukee Avenue corridor, create specific and implementable recommendations, and establish the framework for new form-based controls to be included in the Village’s Zoning Ordinance rewrite, also being done by Camiros.
Camiros developed three potential land use and redevelopment scenarios for the corridor, along with specific strategies that address issues of parcel assembly, roadway configuration and alignment, parking, access, and built form, among others. The strategies identified redevelopment sites and approaches to capitalize on opportunities for future density and Transit-Oriented development at key intersections and future Arterial Rapid Transit (ART) stops along the corridor. Concepts illustrating density, height, form, and building orientation were developed to inform the decision-making process.
Upon selection of a preferred scenario, detailed implementation strategies will be developed, and a mix of form-based and traditional zoning techniques, as well as design standards, will be established to ensure that future development occurs in accordance with established plans and policies into the future.
