Earlier this year, the village pushed a monitoring pipe 15 feet into the open field across from the Channahon Municipal Center. It was supposed to show whether a pond dug there would hold water. It was the wet time of year, and the bottom of the pipe stayed dry.
That dry pipe changed a plan that goes back to the 1990s. The village has redrawn the Town Center concept many times, with versions in 2005, 2008 and 2019. Village staff said this March that a wet pond had been proposed "all along." With the pond gone, the Green has no fixed centerpiece. The village has scheduled a public open house for Thursday, October 15, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Center to gather input on the final design. That makes it the first real chance for residents to help decide what goes in the middle.
The Field Itself
The village owns the Town Center core, about 21 acres directly across from Village Hall at 24555 S. Navajo Drive. Village records say the land was bought in late 2021 and that the Tryon Street TIF district was created in June 2022. In 2024 the board took up a $45,000 proposal from Ginkgo Planning & Design to update the master plan. The board adopted an amended version in April 2025. That plan set out a central Village Green, mixed-use development built in phases, and better connections to the surrounding streets.
In that framework, retail and commercial space sits in the core around the Green. Housing goes farther back from Route 6, near St. Anne's Church. None of those buildings has been approved. They are possibilities for later phases. For now, the only part with an active design contract is the Green.
Twenty Feet Down
The village had planned all along to put a detention pond where the water would collect, and to dig it deep enough to reach groundwater so it would stay full. In March, Public Works Director Dolezal explained what the monitoring pipe showed:
"That pipe we put in is 15 feet deep and it's still not showing water at the bottom, so you would have to dig a 20 plus foot hole. And this is during the wet time of year. Who knows what that would look like in the summer."
Durkin, the staff member leading the project, put it this way at the same meeting: "There will likely be no water feature, but at least the entire village green will be usable." Dolezal said that without enough water, a pond would look "more like a well rather than a water feature."
The idea of water came back in June. While the board was approving the design contracts, the village's VP Moorman Schumacher said she wasn't interested in trucking in clay to make a pond hold water. She asked whether the design work would still suggest some kind of water feature. Durkin said questions like that are what the process is for. So the pond is out, but other kinds of water feature are still on the table.
What Is Still on the Table
Durkin listed the kinds of choices the final design will settle:
- What type of water feature, if any
- Which amenities go on the Green, such as a bandshell or a gazebo
- Which plants and trees go in
He also explained what happens once the plan is done: "At the end of the day, we will have that final plan for that, and that'll be set, and that will be what we seek to begin construction on."
The public records we reviewed do not commit to a splash pad, a plaza design or a parking layout for the Green. Anyone who tells you otherwise before October 15 is ahead of the village.
The bandshell idea has come up before. At an April 2025 meeting, a resident suggested working with the Channahon Park District on a permanent bandshell. Village officials replied that the two agencies use their land separately and had no bandshell partnership.
Who Is Drawing It, and When
On June 1, 2026, the board approved three contracts that together turn the open field into something buildable.
- Ginkgo Planning & Design, working with Langan, for the final Village Green design, capped at $47,000. Langan handles the landscape architecture. The scope covers 6 to 8 months, two public open houses, a paper and digital community survey, and a cost estimate for the main design elements.
- Rubino Engineering, for 23 soil borings across the site, capped at $24,674.
- SPACECO, for engineering and surveying, budgeted at $150,500. The work includes mass grading of the 21.36-acre site, expanding the existing detention basins along St. Elizabeth Drive, and final engineering of a Ring Road and a Main Street entry off Route 6.
By July 6, the soil borings were done, and a steering committee to guide the final Green plan was scheduled to start meeting on August 19.
The Ginkgo contract gives each open house a different job. The first collects ideas for a unique "theme" for the Green, along with programming and design ideas, and launches the survey. The second shows a draft plan with renderings and a summary of the survey results. The village hasn't said which one October 15 is. Its announcement says the event will "gather community input on the final design." We found no public notice of an earlier 2026 open house or survey, so October 15 looks like the first one. The village hasn't confirmed that, so it's best to arrive with your own ideas rather than expecting finished renderings.
The Money Moved Back a Year
The budget timeline has shifted too. Last year's version of the capital plan set aside $2.5 million for the Village Green in fiscal 2027. The plan the board discussed in February 2026 cuts that to $500,000. Durkin said most of that $500,000 should go to engineering and related work.
Finance Director Wagonblott called the $2.5 million now penciled in for fiscal 2028 a very rough estimate. She said the village hasn't decided whether it or a developer would pay for the infrastructure, and that the Town Center would most likely be left out of the coming bond issue. The same discussion moved the St. James Road extension from $1.6 million down to $247,000, which covers engineering only.
You may have seen the village's solar agreements in the news and wondered if that money would pay for the Green. In September, the board approved an agreement for the Bungalow Road solar project. It includes a free 10-acre land transfer to the village and a $1.1 million payment in two installments. The recap doesn't say what that money will be used for, and nothing we reviewed ties it to the Town Center.
The village has called the Tryon Street TIF a possible source for some of the Green's costs. It hasn't assigned a dollar amount.
The Route 6 Piece
How people will get in matters as much as what goes on the Green. In June, Durkin described ongoing talks with IDOT about access points along Route 6 from Navajo Drive to St. James. He said the village is also talking with Ozinga, south of Route 6, about moving its access drive to line up with St. James. Lining them up would help create a signalized intersection there. Durkin called it "an ongoing process." The July through September recaps we reviewed don't report an agreement.
Construction on Route 6 is already underway a short way east. IDOT started bridge repairs on US 6 over the DuPage River on September 10. The work brings intermittent daytime lane closures and is expected to finish by the end of the year.
What Stays Put While the Green Gets Drawn
None of this moves Channahon's established events yet. Three Rivers Festival is still at Central Park, 24856 W. Eames Street. This year it ran August 12 through 16. Channaholidays, with the tree lighting, is still at Village Hall on Sunday, November 22, from 2 to 5 p.m. That puts this year's tree lighting right across Navajo Drive from the field. Closer in on the calendar, the Channahon Park District and SRJC host Sweet Treat Trunk or Treat on October 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Central Park.
A week later, the open house runs from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Channahon Municipal Center, 24555 S. Navajo Drive. With no pond, no confirmed amenities and the construction money set for a later fiscal year, the open field is still a mostly blank plan.
If you live near Navajo Drive or Route 6 and want to know how the Town Center plans affect your home, Latitude Realty follows these board decisions as closely as the sales around them. Start with a free home valuation, then visit our Channahon neighborhood page for the bigger picture. Mindy will walk you through it personally.
