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CITY OF WEST CHICAGO

               DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION COMMISSION
                       AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
ITEM TITLE:

Approach to (Re)Development                   AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: 5

Incrementalism vs Highest and Best Use
                                           COMMISSION AGENDA DATE: 05-27-26


STAFF REVIEW: John Sterrett, Interim Director of Com-   SIGNATURE __________________________
munity Development

ITEM SUMMARY:
As the Commission continues discussion on ways to revitalize the downtown, members should con-
sider two distinct frameworks in guiding (re)development activity in the downtown: Incrementalism and
Highest and Best Use. Each of these approaches offers its own benefits as well as challenges.

Incrementalism
Incrementalism approaches downtown (re)development as the accumulation of many small, low-risk
improvements over time. The unit of change is the individual storefront, parcel, or block face rather
than the downtown as a whole. Typical activities include façade improvements, adaptive reuse of ex-
isting buildings, small infill projects, streetscape and public space enhancements, tactical urbanism,
and support for individual small businesses and property owners. Public investment tends to be mod-
est in scale, recurring, and distributed across many sites.

Highest and Best Use
Highest and best use asks a simple question of each property: what is the most productive use this
site could reasonably support? "Most productive" means the use that is allowed under the zoning,
physically possible on the site, financially workable, and produces the greatest long-term value. Ap-
plied to the downtown, the framework points toward larger, higher impact projects, for example, a
mixed-use building replacing a surface parking lot, a multi-story development replacing an underused
single-story commercial building, or the assembly of several parcels into a single larger site. The
premise is that some properties are performing well below their potential, and that redeveloping them
at a higher intensity produces outsized benefits for the district. Public participation under this approach
is generally concentrated in fewer, larger commitments, often including tools such as TIF, tax abate-
ments, or land assembly.

REQUESTED ACTION:
At the next meeting on May 27th, commissioners will be asked to discuss the advantages and disad-
vantages of each approach and to begin identifying where in the downtown each might most appro-
priately apply.