Business owners and building owners weighed in with their constructive criticism for the future of the village’s downtown business district during two separate panel sessions at the Plan Commission’s Wednesday, Aug. 27 meeting.

As part of an ongoing effort to get feedback from the community — in addition to the pictured downtown chalkboard, the Glencoe Plan Commission invited building and business owners in the village to contribute their input on the downtown business district at the Aug. 27 meeting. Fouad Egbaria/22nd Century Media

Plan Commission Chairman Caren Thomas and the board noted the importance of input from the businesspeople in the community, as the village updates its comprehensive plan for the central business district.

“One of the things that’s very critical is for us to be as aware as possible of the challenges and rewards of owning property and also running businesses [in the central business district],” Thomas said. Before opening the floor to the building owners panel, she asked for their input so that revisions to the comprehensive plan with the goal of downtown “not substantially changing, but thriving.”

Kevin Campbell, vice president of the Glencoe Chamber of Commerce and owner of the Grand Foods property and other properties housing nine businesses, sat on the evening’s first panel, featuring five building owners.

“We’re fortunate to have what is an attractive downtown business district,” Campbell said. “We have an interesting mix of architecturally attractive properties and buildings. We are also fortunate in having residents that do a fairly good job of supporting the businesses in town here.” He noted that in his multi-tenant property, four of those businesses have been in town for over 15 years, including one that has been around for 50 years.