Strongest Town 2023, Round 1: Flossmoor, IL vs. South Bend, IN
Welcome to this first round match-up in the eighth annual Strongest Town Contest! In this round, 16 towns are facing off, and eight will advance to the next segment of the contest, based on your votes. We invite you to read answers representatives of these cities provided to questions we posed, and then cast your vote for which place you think is the strongest.
Can’t decide? If you’re looking for inspiration, check out how we describe the Strong Towns approach.
You may vote once per match-up. Round 1 voting closes at noon CT on Thursday, March 23. For rules, and to follow along with the contest, visit the Strongest Town Contest page.
Note: All entries are lightly edited for clarity and readability.
VOTING FOR THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED. RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON FRIDAY, MARCH 24.
FLOSSMOOR, IL
Entry submitted by: Tom Dobrez, Stephanie Wright, Michelle Nelson.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
Encouraging bike use through our "Bike The Gem" initiative, as well as considering an entire new downtown plan emphasizing pedestrians and no-car days for shopping. The village is considering expanding outdoor dining in previous parking spaces to create a pedestrian mall.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
This has not been an issue in our village, thus far. We are encouraging development along our southern corridor that has limited blacktop requirements by using existing parking nearby.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
Flossmoor is an inclusive town that supports a wide variety of housing options. Procedurally, the village does not have a lot of hoops for residents, renovators, or developers to jump through in order to add to or remodel a residential dwelling. Although site plans are reviewed by a Plan Commission, the village does not require any additional formal public hearings or appearance commission meetings. The Central Business District was expanded, which allows housing above businesses. They are also currently working to incentivize existing landowners and potential developers to improve and increase housing options in this transit-oriented business district. Setbacks were reduced to allow for larger lot coverage. The village is trying to gain control of distressed and abandoned properties for community use.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
The village of Flossmoor prides itself on sound financial accounting practices that have led to an annual award from Government Finance Officers Association for over 45 years and counting. The village presents an annual budget, midyear review, and five-year analysis for the public to review. Each report contains a management letter, along with a detailed historical context for each fund to aid in transparency efforts. A detailed claims list is presented twice monthly as part of village board meetings. The claims list is available to the public 48 hours prior to each meeting and all village board meetings are accessible to the public in person and via Zoom, though a Zoom option is not required by any statute. All of these measures are taken to improve transparency and public engagement.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
A few things. We are in the midst of re-imaging a new downtown and considering back-in parallel parking, as well as car-free shopping days. The main retail street is closed on numerous days for festivals and pedestrian access only.
What is your favorite thing about your town?
Service (or you can say volunteerism) is at the center of what it means to be a resident of the village of Flossmoor. Residents can often be found gathered together over a shared goal in an effort to make our community stronger. It’s hard to find an event in our village that doesn’t offer some type of service component, because we realize our strength in numbers and common idea that we are better together.
SOUTH BEND, IN
Entry submitted by: Marie Spoonhower.
What are people in your city doing to decrease the negative impacts of parking on the community?
In January of 2021, the South Bend City Council voted to end parking minimums throughout the entire city. Anecdotally, I've also seen an increase in signage indicating that some street parking in more dense areas are for quick stops of 15 minutes or less.
In addition, several of the street reconstruction projects around town will be eliminating some parking to make way for separated bicycle tracks. Here is an example.
What are people in your city doing to shift the focus toward maintaining your existing infrastructure instead of just building more roads?
There is currently a push by city officials to reconstruct roads that are poor or failing; however, I've not seen much discussion in the way of the state DOT removing the stroads they have installed all over town over the past decades.
In denser areas, those streets that are being reconstructed are sometimes then given wider sidewalks, separated bike lanes/tracks, etc., but not always. I'm assuming—but not sure—that when it doesn't happen, there is state or federal money involved.
More information here.
What are some recent changes to your community's zoning laws that have resulted in increased housing flexibility and options? What is being done to change your community's approach to land use to allow for more incremental development?
This area has "room for improvement." A number of project proposals over the past several years were scaled down. For example, a local developer proposed building a 12-story, mixed-use building in a neighborhood where the max height is currently around four stories; the result was a nine-story building. Another proposed condo building designed to be five stories was reduced to four stories, due to adjacent property owners complaining. These examples show that there are multiple forces impeding development in the most desirable areas of town where housing, let alone affordable housing, is scarce, and in the long run impedes the growth and stability of the city.
On the other hand, the city has also recently released pre-approved house plans, free for use, to be used as infill for single-family homes.
Tell us a little about the progress people in your city are making toward greater accounting/budget transparency.
While our city has a long way to go in accounting for our infrastructure liabilities, they do a good job of having open-to-the-public budget meetings. These meetings include presentations from each department on new spending and/or increased spending requests, and include updates on ongoing projects. All of these meetings allow for public questions and feedback and usually start in May or June, so they allow for many months of discussion prior to the formal adoption of the budget in September. The city has also done mailers, online surveys, and in person off-site meetings in the past to gather data on budget priorities from the people of South Bend.
What are people in your city doing to build streets that are dominated by people and accommodate automobiles—not the other way around?
As mentioned above in question 2, the city has been adding recreational trails, bike lanes, etc.—but has a really long way to go before reaching critical mass to tip the scales in favor of humans. I see many factors, including the county continuing to build stroads, allowing for new construction of single-family McMansions, etc. The city and county seem to be at odds.
Most people entrenched in their car-dependent lives don't see alternatives even if they already exist. Progress is slow for education and encouragement for people to make those short trips by foot or bicycle instead of cars. There is a bicycle committee that is working in making South Bend more bicycle-friendly, but so many factors go against that (i.e., school consolidation that then requires bussing, etc.).
I'm still seeing businesses leave the core area to move out to the edges of town, which is an indicator that there's much to be done!
What is your favorite thing about your town?
It's large enough that it offers most amenities one would look for in a city, but small enough where people can really make a significant impact.