UPDATE: The Western Corridor Integrated Green Infrastructure Development Plan was unanimously approved by the Richton Park Village Board on January 28, 2019. The plan and appendices are available for download below.
The Village of Richton Park is a community located approximately 28 miles southwest of downtown Chicago on the southern border of Cook County. In 2014, with support from the CMAP Local Technical Assistance (LTA) program, the Village of Richton Park updated its Comprehensive Plan which articulates the Village’s vision for its future. The plan identifies the area of the Village west of I-57, known as the Western Development Corridor, as an opportunity for future long-term growth and development. While this area boasts expressway access via Sauk Trail and large tracts of undeveloped agricultural land, future development must protect sensitive natural areas including Hickory Creek, floodplains, and wetlands.
The Village of Richton Park requested technical assistance from CMAP to develop a stormwater plan for the Western Development Corridor. The planning area is bounded by Ridgeland Avenue on the west, I-57 on the east, the Chicago-Northwestern railway on the north, and Steger Road to the south. With support from the LTA program, this project will advance stormwater management that achieves natural resource and flood protection as well as the Village's vision for near-term and future development. The project will culminate in a stormwater master plan that integrates recommendations for conservation and development areas within the planning boundary. Discrete stormwater improvements will be identified for incorporation into the Village's Capital Improvement Plan, which will subsequently be prepared as part of another LTA project. Recommendations will seek to improve the ecological integrity of the Hickory Creek watershed, while also providing significant open space amenity for future development.
This project was divided into two phases. Phase 1, which was completed in 2017, included the development of a concept plan that delineates proposed development, compensatory storage, naturalized detention, and wetland and stream buffer areas. These areas were also integrated with future land uses in the Village’s Comprehensive Plan to create a broad vision that illustrates how future development, open space, and natural resources can be connected throughout the west side of Richton Park. The second phase included the creation of subarea site plans that demonstrate the integration of green infrastructure and land use strategies into future commercial development, and site planning steps and design guidance to manage stormwater in a way that will reduce flooding, improve water quality, and protect the green infrastructure network of the corridor.