Rockford Sun

The Congress for the New Urbanism Illinois (CNU-IL) has awarded a Charter Award to the city of Rockford for its Downtown Strategic Action Plan.

Rockford Director of Community and Economic Development Todd Cagnoni accepted the award at the CNU-IL annual award ceremony in December.

"Receiving the CNU Illinois Charter Award is a great honor for the city and a testament to the outstanding work being done by our staff -- with the support of our City Council, our downtown partner organizations and the individuals and professional organizations that created the plan," Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey said. "We are blessed by the record-level of private investment that is leveraging substantial public investments and the incentives that we have worked hard to integrate into our downtown economic development strategies. Thanks to all of these efforts, our central city has a very positive trajectory and an incredible amount of forward momentum."

The plan, co-sponsored by the Rockford Metropolitan Agency for Planning (RMAP), took the prior plans for downtown and combined them into a cohesive effort that includes downtown housing, open space links and improving mobility.

The project team from Farr Associates helped the city refine the previous plans and use a shorter-term Tactical, Lean, Climax (TLC) approach to implement the downtown improvements.

“The Rockford Downtown Strategic Action Plan provides a multifaceted strategy for improving the built environment at every scale, setting an exemplar model of place-making for cities across Illinois," CNU-IL Board of Directors Member Jennifer Settle said. "The 'TLC' approach is responsive to the demands of the market, authentically builds community support and fosters an increased understanding of the planning process. The city of Rockford has laid out a strong platform on which to build -- showcasing how sensitive urban design interventions can lead to substantial community investment.”