Trustees View Streetscape Plans for Route 47, Main Street Corner

Village leaders recently discussed building a gateway sign welcoming people to Huntley’s downtown area, as well as other streetscape improvements at Route 47 and Main Street.

Trustees reviewed conceptual plans during their regularly scheduled committee of the whole meeting Thursday night.

Michael Kerr, executive vice president for Christopher B. Burke Engineering, and Douglas Gotham, landscape architect for Burke, gave a detailed presentation of the initial plans, which are available for viewing on Huntley’s village website.

For the most part, board members liked what they saw.

But they also added suggestions on how new signs at the busy corner would best serve Huntley residents.

The plans show a brick “Welcome to Huntley” gateway sign along with crosswalk improvements, benches, durable planters and other elements for the southwest corner of Route 47 and Main Street.

Village officials discussed adding a message board on the sign to inform residents of Huntley events. Trustee Pam Fender suggested that a message board at Dwyer and Main streets might prove effective.

“People sit at that intersection a long time,” Fender said. “I think a message board at this corner is so important.”

Other features of the plan include adding landscape screening near railroad tracks on some village parcels downtown; additional benches and planters at the southwest corner of Route 47 and Main Street; and new street lights.

Improvements on smaller lots might involve only planting grasses, and a tree or two, Kerr said.

The streetscape plans are intended to help direct people to the Huntley downtown area, all part of Huntley’s downtown revitalization plan. The village has allocated $50,000 to downtown improvements this year.

The streetscape improvements would be completed in three phases. Village officials want Burke engineers to proceed with the planning process, which might help Huntley acquire grants for some of the projects, village officials said.