Economic Development

The City of Crystal Lake is committed to providing an ideal business climate for businesses to thrive and succeed. The City works together with developers, business owners, lending institutions and non-profit agencies to facilitate the development and enhancement of the business community. By aligning ourselves with the needs and interests of businesses, the City of Crystal Lake allocates resources and makes decisions that help businesses to be successful in a safe, clean, and attractive environment.

Our services
The primary objectives of the City’s Planning and Economic Development Department include: business attraction, business retention and business relations. With the support and guidance of the City Council and the Economic Development Committee, the City's economic development initiatives listed below are geared towards enhancing Crystal Lake's business climate: 

Business Support and Information. As the first-stop for businesses seeking to do business in Crystal Lake, the Planning & Economic Development Department is the go-to department for information on how and where to get started in Crystal Lake. Additionally, the Department serves business by managing streamlined entitlement procedures that allow businesses to get quickly and effectively get started doing business in town. 

Site Selection.  The Planning & Economic Development Department maintains an inventory of available land and building space that we use to connect prospective businesses with opportunities in Crystal Lake.  Our marketing materials provide contact information as well as specifics regarding the demographics, utilities, and surrounding uses.  The City distibutes this information to interested businesses through mailings, websites, and at trade-shows.

Attraction. The Planning & Economic Development Department attends and participates in commercial, industrial, and real estate trade shows, including those hosted by the International Council of Shopping Centers. These events provide networking opportunities for the City to connect with shopping center developers, real estate brokers, and individual businesses looking for new locations.

Business Retention. The Planning & Economic Development Department hosts a business retention program that allows the City to connect with our existing business owners in an effort to ascertain how businesses are performing and to find out what their needs and future goals are. Additionally, the City hosts a “shop local” marketing campaign called the I Shop Crystal Lake program that is geared towards creating an awareness of the available shopping and dining opportunities in Crystal Lake as well as providing business support services through cooperative advertising and marketing.

On-line Resources. This City recognizes that many businesses begin their site selection process using on-line resources. For that reason, the Planning and Economic Development Department maintains three on-line resources that provide information regarding available land, space for lease, demographics, resources, and contact information, as well as statistical data and resources that are important to expanding businesses. In addition to this website, the City hosts www.econdevcl.com and www.crystallakeretail.com.