DeKalb is trying to embrace its designation as a university town and change the makeup of the downtown area to attract the NIU community.

A large part of the plotting to give vitality to DeKalb has fixated on the area on Lincoln Highway between First and Fourth streets.

The DeKalb City Council voted Monday to commission two consulting firms to undertake portions of the Downtown Redevelopment Plan.

The plan has three elements: beautification, traffic impact and the local economy.

An example of the beautification portion of the project will include a mural on the east side of the building housing Eduardo’s Mexican Restaurant, 214 E. Lincoln Highway, as well as landscaping and a median later on.

The traffic element will be examined by Metro Transportation Group, Inc., at a cost of $39,000. The study will analyze parking needs and the impact of truck traffic downtown. Traffic-related issues have been on the city agenda several times recently so one might speculate the results will be closely watched by citizens.

Work will begin immediately. The city will start with an inventory stage establishing what businesses are missing and then devise a strategy to attract them to the community, said DeKalb Economic Development Administrator Paul Rasmussen.

The final element of the project will try to capitalize on the potential consumers which populate NIU.

“There are a range of things that should be in a college town that aren’t in the downtown, for example an organic food store,” Rasmussen said. “The downtown should be tailored to students and the faculty.”

The consulting firm, The Hitchcock Design Group, is famous for its work on the downtown Naperville Riverwalk. Hitchcock advised city officials they needed to start thinking outside of the box and begin by extending what they considered to be “downtown” to the Kishwaukee River.

The desired effect of extending the downtown area west is to lure people from the NIU campus to stores and restaurants to the east.

“Extending to the Kishwaukee River will tie in campus and transition to downtown,” said community development director Russ Farnum.

The Downtown Redevelopment Plan extends from Seventh Street west to the Kishwaukee River, while the Lincoln Highway Revitalization Plan begins at Seventh Street and extends eastward to Peace Road.