The Regional Transportation Authority Partners with Prairie Grove in TOD Plan

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) announced that a transit-oriented development (TOD) plan in the Village of Prairie Grove, for which the RTA provided $95,000 in funding in addition to staff time, will be honored by the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). The APA Chapter is honoring the village for its town center and transit-oriented development plan, funded by the RTA in 2009 through the Community Planning Program. The TOD plan is the 2013 winner in the Strategic Plan category and will receive the award at the Chapter’s Award Recognition Reception on October 4.

The Prairie Grove TOD plan focuses on transit and TOD opportunities to design a unique, sustainable development for Prairie Grove in anticipation of the construction of a new Metra station along the McHenry Branch of the Union Pacific Northwest Line. Included in the plan are recommendations for new residential, commercial and retail uses, design guidelines, zoning recommendations and overall design of a new town center on a vacant parcel of land adjacent to the future Metra station. The Prairie Grove Village Board formally adopted the Plan in June, 2010. The total cost of the Plan was $118,000, with the RTA providing $95,000 of the funding.

"The village of Prairie Grove is pleased to have worked with the RTA to assemble this framework for our town center and transportation center. We believe this project will add tremendous value to our residents and surrounding communities,” says Stanley C. Duda, Prairie Grove Village president. “We are honored to be recognized by the American Planning Association with this award and look forward to advancing and implementing this plan."

This is the fourth RTA-funded plan to receive an APA Illinois Chapter award. Previous recipients include the village of Montgomery (2010) and the villages of Lombard and Manhattan (2011).