Category Archives: HOPC

What do Peoria, Denver, and Miami have in common?

They’ve all won the 2010 Driehaus Award:

You are invited to join Mayor Jim Ardis for a news conference on April 20, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. to announce that the City of Peoria is one of three winners of the prestigious 2010 Driehaus Award for excellence in form-based coding from the Form-Based Code Institute. The other two winning cities are Miami, Florida, and Denver, Colorado. The news conference will be held at 601 SW Water Street at the corner of Water and Walnut Streets, adjacent to Kelleher’s Pub, which is the site currently being renovated for the corporate offices for Water Street Solutions. The award will be presented on May 20, 2010, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)-18 Conference.

I received this invitation because I’m a former Heart of Peoria Commission member.

Still waiting for former HOPC commissioners to organize advocacy group

It was a year ago this month that the Heart of Peoria Commission voted 5-2 to disband, and the City Council obliged. Commissioners who voted in favor of disbanding were chairman Bill Washkuhn (who has since passed away, sadly), Henry Lawrence, Mark Misselhorn, Julie Waldschmidt, and Geoff Smith. Beth Akeson and I were the only dissenting votes.

The primary argument was this, from my December 1, 2008, post:

The theory goes that commissioners could have more of an impact if we weren’t a city commission. We could instead organize ourselves as a public advocacy group, similar to Peoria City Beautiful. This would free us from the restrictions of the City Council and the Open Meetings Act, allowing us to meet as often as we want and have a coordinated lobbying effort of council members.

So, I think it’s only fair on this anniversary of our commission’s demise to ask, where is this vaunted public advocacy group that the those favoring disbandment feigned interest in starting? Mark? Geoff? Henry? Julie? Funny, I haven’t heard a thing — not a peep — about this idea since our last meeting on December 5, 2008. We’re all free from the dreaded Open Meetings Act now. When’s the first meeting? What lobbying have you done in favor of the Heart of Peoria Plan this past year?

*chirp* *chirp* *chirp*

So much for having more impact.

LDC misunderstood by developers

Attorney Bob Hall thinks the Land Development Code “certainly has a lot of bugs,” according to today’s Journal Star. But it doesn’t really. It just has a lot of things he or the developer he represents either doesn’t like or doesn’t understand, which is typical regardless of what zoning regulations are in place.

Still, some comments made by Mr. Hall deserve a response.

Hall said the reason [council deferred approving a variance for 741 W. Main] was because other requirements within the code were preventing the redevelopment from occurring.

One of those requirements focuses on the size of awnings required along Main Street. Hall said the zoning requirements maintain that an awning six-feet horizontally would have to go up.

“It would probably stretch out into Main Street,” he said.

Not quite. I went out today and measured. From the front of the building to the curb, it’s seven feet. A six-foot awning would do exactly what it’s supposed to do — cover the sidewalk to within a foot of the street. Awnings have a purpose, and it’s not to be merely decorative. They provide shade and shelter for pedestrians and patrons, as well as additional signage for the business. They’re also not required; the code simply says when you have them, they have to be a certain size. In any event, there’s nothing about the awning requirement that should be “preventing the redevelopment from occurring,” other than the developer just not liking it.

Also, Hall said there is no requirement for a street wall or any decorative fencing at newer developments at nearby properties, such as the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center.

“Newer” developments to be sure, but approved before approval of the Land Development Code took effect. Had the LDC been in place when those projects were approved, they would have had to follow the same guidelines.

But [Hall] said he has other clients wanting to redevelop in the city’s older neighborhoods and that the code’s detailed specifics are causing problems. For instance, Hall said Knoxville Avenue – where one of the developments is to occur – “should not have been included” as part of the land development code, which highlights the principles of New Urbanism to make older neighborhoods more pedestrian friendly.

“Knoxville is a thoroughfare,” Hall said. “New Urbanism is for neighborhood stuff.”

These statements illustrate the need for education, something the Heart of Peoria Commission was working on when it was unceremoniously disbanded. New Urbanism is not just about making older parts of town more walkable, nor is it restricted only to neighborhoods. The principles of New Urbanism were only applied to the older parts of Peoria because those were the bounds set by the city council for the Heart of Peoria Plan project. New Urbanism is a comprehensive philosophy of town planning that covers private and public space, commercial and residential areas, streets and thoroughfares. In fact, all these things have to work in concert with each other to create great places; it’s the dis-integration of these things that has caused many of our urban (and suburban) problems.

The Land Development Code is going to get challenges like this until developers understand the purpose behind it, adapt to it, and hopefully embrace it. It’s incumbent upon the Planning and Growth Department to provide this education and to defend the code — within reason, of course.

And here, I should mention that I’m not saying the code cannot ever be questioned. But challenges to the code must be made in context with the intent of the code. The street wall requirement, for example, was worth taking under consideration. There was some disagreement over where that requirement in the code came from — Ferrell-Madden claimed it was the architectural review committee that insisted on it, but one of the members of that committee claims it was Ferrell-Madden’s decision to include it. Ultimately, the ad hoc group that is reviewing the form-based code portion of the LDC, with input from Ferrell-Madden, decided to modify this provision, but only because such revisions could be done while still fulfilling the code’s intent.

Condolences

I just received word that the Chairman of the Heart of Peoria Commission, Bill Washkuhn, has passed away. Here’s the e-mail I received from Planning and Growth Director Pat Landes:

Our office just received word that Bill Washkuhn, current chair of the HOP/C, died this morning. Our office has worked with Bill for nearly 30 years on land use issues, usually as the applicant representing clients for zoning and subdivisions. Bill also generously contributed his time and expertise, serving on various ad-hoc groups focusing on development processing and zoning issues. More recently he served on the Heart of Peoria Commission and was appointed by the Mayor as chair. We’ve always enjoyed our working relationship with Bill, particularly his treatment of staff and good communication with our elected officials.

Please keep Bill, his wife Linda, and their two sons in your thoughts and prayers.

I just saw Bill on Friday — three days ago — at our last Heart of Peoria Commission meeting. Although he was in a wheelchair due to some recent surgery, he was his usual affable self. The news of his passing comes as a real shock to me.

I didn’t know Bill very well personally. I only saw him at commission meetings and occasionally at a City Council meeting. But he was always friendly, well-informed, and full of amusing turns of phrase. I always enjoyed talking to him.

We disagreed on whether HOPC should continue or not. He voted for disbanding, and I voted against it. But afterward, I helped him get to the parking garage where his ride was waiting and we talked briefly about the prospect of starting a private advocacy committee for the Heart of Peoria Plan. I was looking forward to working with him more in the future. I’m so saddened to hear of his passing.

My deepest condolences to his family. May the Lord comfort them.

HOPC votes to disband

At the Heart of Peoria Commission meeting this morning, commissioners in attendance voted 5-2 to disband. Voting in favor were Chairman Bill Washkuhn and Commissioners Henry Lawrence, Mark Misselhorn, Julie Waldschmidt, and Geoff Smith. Voting against were Vice Chair Beth Akeson and me. Commissioner Nancy Biggins was undecided and did not vote. Commissioners Dick Schwebel and Joe Richey were unable to attend the meeting.

The vote was technically a recommendation to dissolve the commission. That recommendation goes to the City Council as they will have the final say on whether to disband the commission or not. Planning and Growth Director Pat Landes informed the commission that the council will consider our request at their December 15 meeting, which starts at 5 p.m.

Included in the recommendation is a request that all commissioners be appointed to another city commission if they aren’t already. Those who are not currently dual appointed are Akeson, Waldschmidt, Washkuhn, and me. However, Waldschmidt lives in East Peoria and Washkuhn lives in Peoria Heights, so they would be ineligible for most other commission appointments.

There’s a possibility that a private advocacy group could be established to take up the mantle of a disbanded Heart of Peoria Commission. I’ll let you know if anything develops.

HOPC meeting on Dec. 5 may be last

Some Heart of Peoria Commission members want the commission to voluntarily disband, possibly as early as our next meeting — the final one for 2008 — on December 5 at 8:00 a.m. The theory goes that commissioners could have more of an impact if we weren’t a city commission. We could instead organize ourselves as a public advocacy group, similar to Peoria City Beautiful. This would free us from the restrictions of the City Council and the Open Meetings Act, allowing us to meet as often as we want and have a coordinated lobbying effort of council members.

This idea has been going around for a while. We talked about it at one of our meetings a year ago or so when the Council was considering disbanding HOPC. At that time, HOPC voted to oppose that move. The Council decided to keep HOPC, but cut all funding for the commission and reduced its meeting schedule to six times per year. So now voluntary disbandment is back on the agenda for discussion at our Dec. 5 meeting.

I have no idea if it’s any more likely to pass. The last time, we ultimately decided that the advantages of being a city commission outweighed the advantages of being a private advocacy group. Should make for an interesting discussion.

Heart of Peoria Commission votes against temporary LDC changes

The city’s Planning and Growth Department is spearheading an effort to review the portion of the Land Development Code (LDC) that deals with form-based code districts “to determine if all the regulations are performing as anticipated and to ensure compatible development which meets the purpose statements of the code.” Toward that end, they have done two things:

  1. Established an LDC Review Committee. The LDC Committee is comprised of two representatives from the Heart of Peoria Commission, Zoning Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Historic Preservation Commission. I’m one of the two representatives from HOPC. So far, we’ve had two meetings. No decisions have been made yet, but we’ve discussed street wall and parking setback requirements and worked on crafting definitions for “change of use” and “expansion of use.”
  2. Requested the City Council temporarily amend the LDC while the LDC Review Committee completes its work. This is on Tuesday’s agenda. Basically, they want to make it easier for projects in a form district to get an exception from the regulations. Currently, any exceptions to the regulations must go through the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). The ZBA’s decision is final; any appeals have to go through circuit court. Planning and Growth is requesting instead that any exceptions be handled as a special use request; that would require the City Council’s approval. Again, this request is just for a six-month period — long enough for the committee to complete its work.

During the Heart of Peoria Commission meeting Friday morning (which wasn’t attended by any media, incidentally), that second point was one of the topics of discussion.

Some commissioners felt the temporary LDC change was a good idea. They argued, like Planning and Growth, that the LDC Review Committee’s recommendations “could include rewriting of certain regulations or removal of them after a determination that they may be too extensive.” Hence, exceptions during this time should be able to be made legislatively (through the council) rather than judicially (through the ZBA). The applicant would still have to make their case either way; it would only change which body has the final say.

Others, like me, were skeptical. I didn’t hear a compelling reason why this change was necessary. First of all, there don’t appear to be a rash of requests before the ZBA (in fact, their last regular meeting was cancelled because they didn’t have a single case). Secondly, the issues that are being reviewed by the committee are limited in scope, so there’s no need to change the exceptions procedure for all form district regulations. Others pointed out that exceptions made under this proposed temporary change could set a bad precedent.

The Heart of Peoria Commission was split on the issue. A motion in favor of the temporary change failed 3-4. That was followed by a motion to make no changes to the exception process while the commission completes its work; that motion passed 4-3.

HOPC meeting this Friday

The Heart of Peoria Commission will meet this Friday at 8 a.m. in room 404 of Peoria City Hall. Here’s the agenda:

AGENDA
(All Agenda items are subject to possible action.)

CALL TO ORDER

MINUTES – APPROVAL of MINUTES of the REGULAR MEETING held APRIL 25, 2008

REGULAR BUSINESS

ITEM NO. 1 Update regarding EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ITEM NO. 2 Report on VARIANCES in Land Development Code area

ITEM NO. 3 Reports from Commissioners regarding DUAL COMMISSION APPOINTMENTS

ITEM NO. 4 Review of 2008 WORK PLAN to determine activities to complete by the end of
the year – continued

ITEM NO. 5 Creation and approval of 2009 WORK PLAN

CITIZEN REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION

ADJOURNMENT

HOPC meeting rescheduled for July 25

From a press release (all caps in original):

THE REGULAR HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION MEETING SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008, HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008, AT CITY HALL, 419 FULTON STREET, ROOM 404, AT 8:00 AM.

The chair and vice-chair of the commission were both unable to meet June 27, hence the rescheduling.

One thing that will be on the agenda is the seeming lack of enforcement of the Land Development Code. One question I’ve been asked is whether the supposed lack of enforcement is real or merely perceived. I’ve been asked, for example, if I’m just pointing out all the exceptions and not acknowledging the alleged majority who comply. That’s a fair question, and something we will explore at the next meeting. No one will be happier than I to discover there is far more compliance with the LDC than non-compliance, but I have to admit I’m skeptical of that being the case.