OVERVIEW

The Village of Niles and the Niles Park District of Illinois engaged Hitchcock Design Group for the purpose of developing a 9.09-acre multi-use park plan that incorporates both active and passive recreation and the potential of facilitating 12 feet of stormwater detention below ground, above ground, or both. This side-by-side lot borders residential properties on three sides and the commercial property of Golf Mill Mall to the north. Hitchcock will coordinate landscape design with the stormwater detention design.

The shared vision of the Village of Niles and Niles Park District is to build on years of joint community successes by collaborating on a conceptual park design that incorporates both parcels of 9.09 acres providing for an expanded park with multiple uses and a design that integrates a stormwater solution for the community. The goal is the creation of an extraordinary and original public park design that invites both active and passive recreation. The design would create a destination and community gathering place, new programming opportunities, economic drivers, art, and stealth flood relief.

PROCESS

The team will first assemble a thorough dataset that supports preliminary design exploration. This will be accomplished through discussions with staff, stakeholders, and the public – combined with a detailed site exploration and analysis.

The public outreach process will occur in two phases. The first phase will include an input event held at Golf Mill Park where the team will deploy interactive engagement methods such as video-captured whiteboard input (answering a focus question on a whiteboard) and in-person amenity voting for desired park elements (images on boards, voting with stickers).

The second phase will include traditional input methods such as a community meeting, stakeholder interviews, and an online community survey for a broader reach into the community. The online survey will be developed after some of the initial interactive engagement is complete to establish the core topics. Following the completion of the public outreach, the team will summarize the community’s preferences and discuss the results with you to confirm the program moving forward.

The team will then launch into conceptual design, preparing three design options for the project, exploring a variety of approaches that align with what we have learned to date, estimating costs as we go, and meeting with you along the way.

With proposed options in hand, the team will conduct a public open house to gather feedback and preliminary support, re-summarizing the community’s preferences, discussing the feedback with you, and refining the conceptual design into a singular approach.

Hitchcock Design Group’s licensed landscape architects, urban planners, and creative-play specialists will lead this work with the assistance of their subconsultant partner, Hey and Associates.