New Lenox officials on Tuesday night took the first step toward creating a new town center.
The 1998-99 budget approved by the board allocates $750,000 for buying property and providing for preliminary engineering and design work on land south of U.S. Highway 30 and west of Vine Street. The open land has long been targeted as an ideal spot for the proposed New Lenox Commons.
The commons is envisioned as a town center that will feature park land, public buildings such as a new village hall, shops, and possibly town homes. As a whole, the project is viewed as a place where area residents can congregate, shop, conduct business and socialize.
The decision to make a concerted effort to budget for buying the land began taking shape last year after the village’s second application for a state grant to fund the project was rejected.
Land acquisition is an important part of the project because the village owns only a small percentage of the necessary acreage.