Trustees this week hired a consultant to draw up a master plan for the village’s turn-of-the-century downtown.
Mayor Jim Holland said village officials will begin discussing the goals and methods of the historic district master plan with consultants from Hitchcock/BDI “within a month,” and the work will begin shortly after that.
The study, which will cost $75,950, will have a commercial emphasis, dealing with land use and economic analysis, Holland said.
But the historic nature of the area will add another dimension, he said. Consultants will also look at ways to determine what qualifies as a historic structure and how those structures can be preserved.
The future of one downtown building, Heritage Hall at 14 S. Hickory St., is still uncertain.
Developers Richard Wright and Greg Harper of ROW House Ltd. submitted a proposal for commercial use of the property to the Village Board last year, but final approval depended on the selection of a business, likely a restaurant, acceptable to the board.
The deadline for presenting a tenant to the Village Board is Aug. 6.
Also this week, Frankfort joined several Will County communities rejecting an invitation to join the Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission supported by U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.)
Trustees said the proposed airport lies within Will County, which should have the major say in the airport’s eventual development.
“Local control needs to determine whether this ever happens,” Trustee Kevin Egan said.