Neighborhood Planning

The City of Aurora retained Teska Associates, Inc. to implement and lead the Aurora Neighborhood Planning Initiative (ANPI), which is designed to help residents and other stakeholders shape the way their neighborhoods will grow and change over the next 20 years and beyond. The Big Woods/Marmion Neighborhood was the second neighborhood to complete the ANPI process. Located in the northeast section of the city between I-88 and Butterfield Road, the Big Woods/Marmion Neighborhood is a relatively new neighborhood that still continues to experience substantial growth and development. The neighborhood contains an intriguing mix of uses, including a diverse housing stock, commercial and retail opportunities, office and industrial parks, an expansive forest preserve, a landmark school and abbey, and access to the tollway and two major thoroughfares.

With the assistance of City staff and a volunteer Leadership Team, Teska Associates, Inc. led the planning process which included a series of public neighborhood meetings designed to identify and prioritize neighborhood issues, draft a physical and organizational framework for neighborhood improvement, and collect constant community feedback. The resulting Big Woods/Marmion Neighborhood Action Plan established a Neighborhood Partnership upon which residents, business owners, and other local stakeholders can unite to build a strong unified voice and work together as a cohesive unit to effectively address the neighborhood's top priority issues. Guided by a structure of task forces and action items, the Neighborhood Partnership also provides the neighborhood with a mechanism to address any new issues that may arise in the future, which is particularly useful for a neighborhood that continues to grow and develop and has yet to reach its full potential.