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Elgin Recent Growth and Development Issues Elgin is by far the largest of the three study cities, with a population expected to reach the 100,000 threshold within the next few years ("Elgin At-a-Glance" 1). In terms of area, Elgin is also the largest, encompassing about 26 square miles-an increase from 18 square miles 20 years ago (Armstrong 8/10/01). With this growth come many issues that the city and the residents must work through to find solutions that benefit the city. Elgin, being unique from both Batavia and St. Charles in that it is not only larger, but also dealing with social issues such as an image problem, a larger prevalence of crime, a large foreign population, and the belief that Elgin’s "great days are gone and that it has little future" (Alft 120). Karen Fox and Karen Lewis, both residents for over 20 years, both cited Elgin’s diversity of people as what they like most about Elgin-diversity that may be considered a "slice of America" (Alft 120). As quoted from the Far West Planning Area Development and Design Guidelines for the City of Elgin:
Competition between the established downtowns and older sections of town near the Fox River and the Randall Road corridor to the west is a major issue in all three of the study cities. Randall Road runs north-south along the western fringe of all three cities and, in
recent years, has seen large amounts of both commercial and residential
development. This transformation, from what ten years ago was considered a traffic-free
road separating the city from the countryside, to the congested sea of subdivisions and
large box retailers, has had both positive and negative effects on all three cities. The
strip of Randall Road
Robert Bowers, a thirty-six year resident of Elgin, commented, "a city must grow or become stagnant. I just don’t like all the mixed architecture along Randall Road-looks like a junk yard with no rhyme or reason." While all three cities are working to get the most tax dollars out of developments along Randall Road, Elgin has been willing to take on more by growing beyond Randall Road with new residential developments. The city, in January of 2000, adopted their Far West Planning Area Development and Design Guidelines as an amendment to the Far West Area Plan of 1996, to guide development in the area west of Randall Road (1). This plan "represents a commitment by the City of Elgin to quality land resource management; directing a balance between the need to develop, the cost of development, and the conservation of the natural environment" (1). This plan provides good management for the area that has yet to see any large developments, although one large-as well as controversial-development has been proposed. In September of 2000, the Elgin City Council voted in favor of annexing 608 acres located two miles west of Randall Road to develop as Bowes Creek Estates-a golf course community including 649 upscale, single-family homes in 12 residential areas as well as 140 units of townhomes (Sullivan "Hearing" 1). Residents who oppose the project say that it will hurt local schools, create traffic, and worsen flooding. But a majority of the planning commission feel the upscale development will provide housing not currently available in Elgin. They also feel that the proposal meets the requirements of the city’s Far West Area Plan (Burnett "Bowes Creek" sec 1:1). Tom Armstrong, Principal Planner for Elgin, commented that "on the surface, our review of this Bowes Creek residential subdivision and golf course community would look like sprawl except that we are also reviewing concept plans for development of all the intervening property which all could occur in a relatively short time frame here, so in general it is contiguous development " (8/10/00). Elgin expects to keep growing west by annexing 11,000 acres west of Randall Road over the next 25 to 70 years-adding as many as 50,000 new residents (Burnett "Planning" sec 1:1). What Santell feels is driving this development is that Elgin is looking to improve their image and felt that one way to do achieve this was to upgrade the value of their housing stock (12/26/00). According to Santell, Elgin has had an image problem in the past, which was both unfortunate and unwarranted (12/26/00). Santell recalled that when he moved to the Fox Valley seventeen years ago, he was told not to go downtown because of gangs. Curious, he went downtown, and the thing that struck him was that it was vacant-there was no one there period (12/26/00). He believes that one way for Elgin to deal with this perception problem was to get upscale housing to the west. Elgin has the largest downtown of the three cities, but it has also been devastated the most in the past by the regional malls. Armstrong commented that the growth that has been occurring on the fringes has been at the expense of the Center City, especially with regard to retail development. However, "the decline of the Center City as a retail destination really occurred prior to commercial development on the fringes, it was mostly influenced by the regional malls that have developed in the area. It was a matter of a couple of years that Spring Hill Mall developed that all of the major retail anchors left the downtown. Their competition wasn’t Randall Road development-actually Randall Road development is competition for the regional malls" (8/10/00). Elgin is wisely using the money from the riverboat casino to revitalize the downtown. People in neighboring communities have noticed this. Tom Anderson, a lifelong resident of St. Charles, noted that it is easier to improve the downtown in a smaller community like Batavia or St. Charles (12/29/00). Elgin recently approved a Riverfront/Center City Masterplan as a way to boost the city’s economy and attract more visitors downtown (Burnett "Elgin Continues" 1). This plan calls for riverfront improvements, a festival park adjacent to the riverboat, downtown housing, a new recreation center, and a new hotel (Billings "Renovation" sec 3:1). These improvements have enticed new businesses to the downtown, which have purchased older, historic buildings and are now renovating them. As one business man said of his decision to relocate his Elgin business to the Center City, "We’re Elgin business people who live in Elgin and we wanted our business to be in downtown Elgin. We wanted to be part of the action and not spectators" (Billings "Renovation" sec 3:1). Many other businesses are receiving city grant money to improve the facades of their buildings through the State Street Façade Improvement Program. This program allows for $25,000 more in grant money than the city’s main improvement program (Billings "Elgin to Restore" sec 5:1). Armstrong strongly believes that downtown Elgin will become one of the real destinations in the Fox Valley area. When asked how he feels the downtown is faring, he commented:
Elgin has three historic districts-more than Batavia or St. Charles. Such high activity in these older sections of town helps prevent too much development on the fringe, while preserving the historic central area of the city. Elgin also contains many large, older homes, as it was "once a thriving city which boasted many millionaires" (Gifford Park Association 2). When the Elgin Watch Factory closed in the 1960’s, hundreds of people left the city in search of jobs elsewhere. As a result of this, dozens of vintage homes were turned into boarding houses, divided into apartments, or simply fell into disrepair (Gifford Park Association 2). Since 1990, preservation efforts, supported by the city, have helped many of these homes return to their former glory (Gifford Park Association 2). The Elgin Historic District, established in 1981, is the oldest historic district. This district is located in the area that Elgin’s founder, James T. Gifford, first settled, and contains the oldest homes in the city as well as the largest variety of architectural styles of homes (Saher 8/10/00). This area also contains the majority of churches in the city. This is because, at the time, the city was giving away one acre of land to any community group that wanted to start its own church. The second historic district, the Spring-Douglas Historic District, established in 1996, was the area where primarily presidents of various companies in Elgin lived. Thus, it comprises some of the largest mansions that are in Elgin. The third district, the Elgin National Watch Historic District, was established in 1997. As the name suggests, it was closely associated with the development of the Elgin National Watch Company (Saher 8/10/00). To assist owners of historic homes, the city has two grant programs. The first is the 50/50 grant program, initiated in 1995, provides homeowners with 50% of the cost of exterior work up to a maximum of $10,000. The second program, the 75/25 program, initiated in 1998, provides property owners with 75% of the cost of exterior work up to a maximum of $10,000. The latter of the two is available to residents who meet lower income levels (Saher 8/10/00). The city also boasts a fifteen year-old plaque program that "strives to increase pride, awareness and knowledge and has contributed to the overall increase in preservation efforts throughout the city" (Billings "Preserving" sec 5:1). The black and white plaques display not only the year the home was built, but also the name of the original owner (Billings "Plaques" sec 5:1). |
