YAS Architecture

Yorkville Rolling Out Vision of Downtown
By Linda Schweitzer, Special to the Beacon News
April 17, 2005

YORKVILLE — Wide landscaped streets and sidewalks, a corridor of specialty shops and restaurants, a
village green - visions of the future for downtown Yorkville.
At a meeting last week for the city's Downtown Vision Master Plan, urban design specialist Stephen Yas of the Yas/Fischel Partnership displayed four conceptual plans that included a community center, condominiums, a senior center and housing.
"We're here to dream and we want you to dream about what you want for the downtown, and don't worry about the cost," Yas told residents and business owners gathered at the Historic Kendall County Courthouse.

"Our job is to help you dream and give vision to the downtown. If you dream it, it will happen, for this generation and the next."
This was the second downtown vision plan meeting since January, when residents were asked to fill out a questionnaire on what they hoped for the downtown.

Gift shops, art galleries, florists, clothing and apparel and restaurants were at the top of the list.
Yas suggested the downtown could gain economic vitality and become successful by taking advantage of the high volume of traffic on Route 47, its proximity and access to the Fox River and the town's historic buildings.
"We can build up on the past and what is good for Yorkville," he said.
Drawings of streets with retail on both sides, wider sidewalks and green spaces, new retail and office buildings with underground parking and greater public access to the riverfront were included in the plans.
Yas welcomed input and feedback from residents and said the plans would be on display at City Hall for two weeks, before they would finalize the plan in May and present it to the City Council.
Mayor Art Prochaska encouraged residents to give their input on the four conceptual plans.

"I don't look at this as a plan telling people what to do," Prochaska said. "The plan is to identify opportunities; we do have people interested in the downtown."
"This is the start but not the end, certainly not the end," he said. "What this plan does is

show what the opportunities are for downtown and what can happen and how it can happen.
"I think it's important and I know there is a lot of interest in our downtown, and the question is always what are the city's plan for the downtown," Prochaska said. "Well, it's not the City Council or the mayor, but what the city wants to do with the downtown."

	"I don't look at this as a plan telling people what to do," Prochaska said. "The plan is to identify opportunities; we do have people interested in the downtown." "This is the start but not the end, certainly not the end," he said. "What this plan does is
show what the opportunities are for downtown and what can happen and how it can happen. "I think it's important and I know there is a lot of interest in our downtown, and the question is always what are the city's plan for the downtown," Prochaska said. "Well, it's not the City Council or the mayor, but what the city wants to do with the downtown."