Daily Archives: November 25, 2008

City Council, City of Peoria

4 a.m. liquor license area expanded

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The Peoria City Council tonight voted in favor of expanding the 4 a.m. liquor license area downtown, 8-2 (Nichting, Manning voting against; Jacob abstaining):

Ironically, according to the language of the ordinance, Excalibur would not be included in the 4 a.m. zone, even though that bar and Club Apollo were the two bars the council specifically wanted to provide with 4 a.m. liquor licenses. Whoops. When Councilman Sandberg brought this up, he was chastised by Mayor Ardis for being “unproductive,” and told he should have brought that information to staff sooner, not “when the cameras are rolling.” Sandberg retorted that he had just read the council communication tonight and had just noticed it, and that in any case the legal department is getting paid to double-check these types of things. The motion was amended to include Excalibur.

Coalition of Concerned Citizens representative Sandra Fritz was given the privilege of the floor and spoke in opposition to the expansion. She said her organization had collected 1500 signatures of residents in favor of getting rid of the 4 a.m. area completely and requiring all bars to close by 2 a.m.

City Council, City of Peoria, History

Historic Duroc building doomed

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The Peoria City Council denied historic preservation for the AMVETS building, 237 NE Monroe, at tonight’s council meeting. First district councilman Clyde Gulley moved to deny the request, seconded by at-large councilman Eric Turner. The vote was 9-1 in favor of Gulley’s motion to not landmark the building (Councilman Sandberg voted against; Councilman Jacob abstained).

This was no surprise. AMVETS members started lobbying the council before the Historic Preservation Commission even heard the case or made a recommendation, so the vote was practically preordained. Several council members spoke to the issue.

  • “It’s not pro-business or pro-development,” Councilman Turner said about the historic preservation process.
  • Second district council member Barbara Van Auken concurred, but said historic preservation should be pro-business and pro-development and certainly can be; thus, she reported that she has asked Planning and Growth director Pat Landes to look at how historic preservation is handled in other communities.
  • Fifth district council member Pat Nichting gave his time to AMVETS Post 64 Commander Richard Mitchell to address the council. Mr. Mitchell is opposed to historic preservation for this building because it impedes his organization from selling it to Riverside Community Church, which wants to demolish it. Find more info on the building maintenance and facilities services here.
  • At-large councilman Gary Sandberg cited the Easton mansion as an example of a building where a previous owner did not want historic preservation, but was ultimately preserved and is now a beautiful, well-preserved building with a successful business (Converse Marketing) housed in it. He also argued that the item before the council is whether this building meets the standard for historic preservation; it does, and therefore should be landmarked. He also mentioned that, in response to concerns over economic development, not landmarking this building will not give any economic advantage to the city, since it will most likely be sold to a non-profit organization, which is going to raze it.
  • Fourth district councilman Bill Spears doesn’t want to vote against a veterans organization.
  • Mayor Jim Ardis stated his frustration with the last-minute nature of this situation. He also stated that there’s no independent arbiter to determine whether a building is historic or not. This was a curious statement, as I thought that was why we had a Historic Preservation Commission. What is their role if not to be just such an independent arbiter? Ardis also stated that non-profit organizations such as churches improve the area and make it more conducive to economic development, even though they don’t provide economic development themselves.

Les Kenyon was given the privilege of the floor and spoke in favor of landmarking the building, but his pleas were all for naught. The council voted against landmarking this building, not on the merits of whether the building is historic or not, but on the circumstances surrounding the application.

So, Peoria will soon lose yet another historic building. But we can put big pictures of it in the new history museum we’re going to build downtown once that sales tax referendum is passed. Eventually, a museum is the only place you’ll be able to see any historic architecture in Peoria.