Mahomet Launches Plan to Shape Growth, Parks and “Small‑Town” Future

Village trustees and members of the Planning & Zoning Commission kicked off a year‑long process to update Mahomet’s Comprehensive Plan and Parks and Recreation Master Plan with a presentation from SmithGroup on July 21.

SmithGroup led the village’s 2018–2019 downtown master plan. The 2026 initiative is not‑to‑exceed cost of $179,500. 

Consultants described the comprehensive plan as a long‑range “framework for growth” that complements the village’s strategic plan. The comprehensive plan will guide where and how Mahomet grows, land use, housing, infrastructure, and economic development, while the parks and recreation plan will focus on park facilities, trail connections, and programming. 

The Village plans to update the comprehensive plan every five to ten years. Village leaders note that the current comprehensive plan dates to 2016, while the existing parks plan is even older. Since then, Mahomet has experienced substantial residential growth, implemented its downtown master plan, and navigated post‑pandemic shifts such as remote work, online retail, and rising construction costs. 

To ground the discussion in local values, the SmithGroup team led trustees and commissioners through an exercise asking for one word to describe Mahomet today, one word for Mahomet 20 years from now. 

Words used to describe Mahomet today included “busy,” “vibrant,” “growing,” “safe,” “evolving,” “young,” “energized,” “active,” and “challenging.” For the future, participants offered “diverse,” “connected,” “leading,” “excellence,” “safe,” “convenient,” “accessible,” “planned,” “fun,” and “still growing.”

When asked how they would measure success when the plans are finished in roughly 18 months, board members repeatedly returned to themes of:

• Diversifying Mahomet’s tax base beyond “heavily residential” by attracting more commercial development and job opportunities so fewer residents commute out of town daily.
• Retaining youth, tax dollars, and local talent rather than seeing students and professionals permanently relocate elsewhere.
• Creating clear, attainable, proactive action steps rather than reactive responses to crises, especially around capacity for infrastructure, programming, and public safety.
• Maintaining a strong “community focus” and small‑town feel as Mahomet grows, particularly through downtown investments and community events that foster a sense of belonging.
• Ensuring broad, diverse community input and communicating the final plans in ways residents can understand and “own,” rather than only officials and staff.

Several officials also stressed the importance of safety, sustainable growth, and “positive community involvement,” noting concern over negative social media narratives and misunderstandings about how decisions are made.

Village officials highlighted the quality of the Mahomet-Seymour School District, while also acknowledging that classroom and traffic capacity are strained. They pointed to ongoing work by the Mahomet‑Seymour School District to place a bond issue on the November ballot to address overcrowding and facility needs, and acknowledged that future school sites and traffic patterns must be coordinated with village land use and transportation planning. 

While schools are overcrowded, the Village also continues to plan new residential developments. Approximately 260 residential plots are already approved in the Harvest Edge, Thornewood and Sangamon Fields subdivisions. 

Officials also talked about village residents and those living in surrounding townships. While many township residents use village streets, parks, police services, and potential facilities like a future pool, only village property owners would fund certain projects through municipal taxes. Some trustees framed this as an equity and communication problem: the village must both engage non‑village community members in planning and find mechanisms to share costs more fairly, despite limited legal tools to annex or impose municipal taxes. 

Most of the major roads in Mahomet are maintained by the state (IL-150 and IL-47) and the county (Praireview). Non-Village residents also pay additional fees for park programs. 

SmithGroup plans to conduct targeted engagement with high school students during the school year. Officials said they want to understand students’ perceptions of Mahomet, what would make them want to return after college or training, and which amenities or “deal breakers” influence their view of the community. 

Trustees suggested asking students about other towns they admire, what Mahomet might lack from a business or recreation standpoint, and their experiences with local parks and recreation programs they have used “for 20 years.” Some board members also floated the idea of reaching out to alumni who graduated a decade ago and have since returned, or chosen not to, saying that their long‑term perspective on Mahomet’s evolution could be particularly valuable.  

The workshop involved selecting one special area for a more intensive stakeholder session and sub‑area plan within the broader comprehensive planning effort. Staff had identified several candidate areas:

• Downtown
• Eastwood commercial district
• Mid America Road area near forest preserves
• Patton Drive business district
• South Mahomet/Middletown corridor near schools and the Champaign gateway
• North Route 47 and west‑of‑town corridors toward Mansfield, raised by trustees during discussion.

Village staff and consultants noted that some of these areas, particularly Mid America Road and South Mahomet, are already seeing active developer interest and are likely to build out primarily as residential neighborhoods, while others such as Patton Drive are progressing rapidly under existing corridor plans.

Trustees and commissioners coalesced around Eastwood as the priority for deeper engagement. Multiple board members described Eastwood as both highly visible and persistently underperforming. This area is within the Downtown TIF District that has seen Schnucks and Starbucks most recently. 

SmithGroup will now design a stakeholder session focused on Eastwood, bringing together property owners, business operators, and nearby residents to consider the mix of housing and commercial uses. 

Toward the end of the workshop, the group revisited the major goals of the 2016 comprehensive plan. 

Participants highlighted:

• Downtown reinvestment and the creation of a thriving, active core, supported by land acquisition for parks and public spaces, a foundation for community projects, and a business district that can offer incentives.
• Significant investments in water, wastewater, and road infrastructure, particularly in South Mahomet, which leaders said were strategically timed “before the fun stuff” and have enabled subsequent growth without major service failures.
• The establishment and extension of TIF districts, which village and school officials described as successful tools for funding improvements when paired with strong intergovernmental collaboration.
• The growth of parks and recreation opportunities, including youth sports, trail connections, and coordination with the school district on shared facilities like tennis courts and new parkland acquisitions.
• The village board’s collegial culture and perceived effectiveness, with trustees noting they “work well together” and avoid the kinds of public blow‑ups seen in some communities.

Areas needing improvement, included:

• Capacity constraints in schools, recreation facilities, village buildings, and public safety, and the need to stay “one step ahead” instead of reacting after the fact.
• Limited affordable housing and rental options, mirroring regional trends but posing particular challenges for workers and young families who want to live in Mahomet.
• Underutilized commercial corridors, especially Eastwood and sections of North Prairie View Road, which officials said feel inconsistent with Mahomet’s overall quality and are “totally underutilized.”
• An underused riverfront; several board members called the Sangamon River a “massive unique feature” that lacks public access, trails, or amenities in the heart of town, despite some existing canoe and kayak activities.
• Gaps in pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, particularly north–south routes linking neighborhoods to major commercial and school areas, where residents have repeatedly raised safety concerns.
• Ongoing communication challenges: even as intergovernmental cooperation has improved, officials said many residents remain unaware of that collaboration and rely on fragmented or inaccurate information in the absence of robust local print news.

On commercial growth, trustees described their strategy as both a strength and a work in progress. Several argued that Mahomet is now in a position to be selective about which projects to approve, but must do a better job explaining to residents how commercial tax revenue reduces pressure on homeowners and pays for desired amenities. 

SmithGroup outlined a three‑phase engagement and drafting process running over roughly 18 months: 

Phase 1 (current): Learning and understanding, including review of past plans, data analysis, a village staff tour, and this joint workshop. The team will launch a project web page hosted on the village site, along with an initial survey to introduce the planning effort and gather early input on vision, priorities, and perceptions of progress since 2016. 

Phase 2 (fall and beyond): Community workshops focused on specific parks, “special areas,” and transportation connections; targeted stakeholder sessions for land use and a key focus area (likely Eastwood); and a dedicated student workshop at the high school. 

Phase 3 (2025): Drafting the comprehensive plan and parks plan, refining recommendations based on feedback, and guiding the documents through public hearings and adoption by the Planning & Zoning Commission and Board of Trustees.

In addition to formal meetings, staff and consultants plan to “meet people where they are” through pop‑up events at youth soccer, the village music festival, and other community gatherings. The first pop‑up is scheduled for August 15 at a youth soccer program, where SmithGroup and village staff will collect feedback from parents and children on parks and community needs.