Category Archives: Village of Peoria Heights

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch, Village of Peoria Heights

Peoria misrepresents Peoria Heights to Surface Transportation Board

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Today is the deadline for the City to file information with the Surface Transportation Board in the pending adverse discontinuance proceeding. The City filed their information this morning, basically just reiterating what was said at the last council meeting and informing the STB of the 9-2 vote in favor of CIRY as the carrier.

However, most curious was this statement (emphasis mine):

The Village of Peoria Heights concurs in the action voted by the City of Peoria. The Cities continue to support reconfiguration of rail service over the Branch whereby:

(1) Carver and any other shipper located near the north end of the Branch would be served from the west via CIRY’s connection with Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) at Pioneer Junction;

(2) O’Brien Steel Service Co, (O’Brien Steel) and any other shipper located near the south end of the Branch would be served from the east via CIRY’s connection with Tazewell & Peoria Railroad, Inc. (T&P); and

(3) the segment of the Branch between the facilities of those shippers, on which there is no traffic, would be converted to recreational trail use.

That’s kind of funny, because I just read in the paper that the Village wants to put a trolley on that line, not a trail. Also, no Village representative certified the filing with their signature, and the Village wasn’t even served with a copy of the filing!

So I called Peoria Heights and talked to Administrator Tom Horstmann. I read him the STB filing and he said that it is not accurate, the Village does not concur with Peoria’s action, and he advised me to send a copy of the filing to Mayor Allen, which I did. I have a feeling the City will be getting an unhappy phone call.

To claim the Village’s concurrency in a legal document to the STB without the Village’s consent is an unconscionable oversight at best. It’s pretty apparent that there is no communication between the City and the Village on this issue, which is surprising considering how much is riding on the Village’s commitment to this project. Most of the section that the City wants to turn into a trail is not located in the City, but in the Village. Furthermore, the Village owns the trackage that is within their municipal boundaries. If the Village isn’t on board with the City’s plans, the City better start considering Plan B.

In the meantime, the City obviously needs to retract their erroneous statement to the STB. And since the City has demonstrated a lack of interest in communicating with the Heights, the Village probably should start communicating their intentions regarding the Kellar Branch directly with the STB.

UPDATE: City of Peoria attorney Randy Ray says, “Our STB filing is being amended to reflect that Peoria Heights does not agree with the City’s position. They wish to take no position on the matter before the STB.”

When I talked to Mayor Allen earlier tonight, he explained that since Peoria Heights doesn’t receive any freight, they didn’t feel the need to take a position on which carrier would be used on the line at this time. Also, as I stated in the comments section, Allen believes this was just an honest mistake.

Kellar Branch, Village of Peoria Heights

Peoria Heights interested in trolley idea for Kellar Branch

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Gomaco Trolley in PortlandWhile the City Council, Park District, Journal Star, and Recreational Trail Advocates scoffed at the idea of putting a trolley on the Kellar Branch line, there’s one key player who thinks the idea has some merit: the mayor of Peoria Heights.

A subscriber to the Peoria Rails Yahoo Group posted this message earlier today:

Look for a big splash in the paper tomorrow. Peoria Heights mayor Mark B. Allen at the Peoria/Pekin Urbanized Area Transportation Study (PPUATS) meeting today, said he wanted money for a look at a trolley line to link the new development at the old Cohen Warehouse to downtown Peoria. They want a replica street car to link the two areas to provide economic growth. With Peoria Heights on board so to speak, I would say that the rail line is safe for a while. I’d rather see a business with rail service in the old warehouse but any businesses that contributes to economic growth rather than drain taxes for a trail is a good thing.

Just think, if they built the trail next to the track, they could walk or bike the trail one way and ride the trolley the other. They would also support jobs. That’s a win win win for everyone.

This is significant because the bulk of the section the Park District wants to convert to a trail runs through Peoria Heights, not Peoria. In fact, Peoria Heights owns the portion of the Kellar Branch that passes through their village and could decide to sell it or lease it without having to get any approval from the Peoria City Council. That’s only fair, since Peoria has been unilaterally making decisions about the line up to this point in time.

The Kellar Branch saga continues.

UPDATE: Here’s the Journal Star’s first article on this story.

City of Peoria, Kellar Branch, Village of Peoria Heights

Peoria Heights Mayor may break with Peoria over Kellar Branch

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Billy Dennis has posted an e-mail he received from Peoria Heights Mayor Mark Allen regarding the Heights’ role in the Kellar Branch saga. In it, Mr. Allen states:

I have spoken with representatives of Pioneer Line, and have made them aware that we would appreciate that Peoria Heights be considered as the SEPARATE entity that it is from Peoria. I do not plan on following lock-step with the City of Peoria, or the Peoria Park District. While we will always consider what is best for the area, we must also put first priority as to what is best for Peoria Heights.

I’m guessing this might have something to do with the fact that the Heights has just lost Cohen’s warehouse at the site of the former Pabst plant, and it may behoove his village to keep the Kellar Branch in order to lure a good rail-served business to that location.

However, if Mr. Allen wants to be considered “separate” from Peoria, I hope he’s aware that the Village of Peoria Heights is a co-petitioner with the City of Peoria in the Adverse Discontinuance proceeding against Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY) that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) just reopened. If the Heights now wants to retain PIRY as operator of the line, they need to inform the City of Peoria and the STB that they are withdrawing themselves as parties to the petition.

Peoria Journal Star, Village of Peoria Heights

Dear Alexis, xxoo, Love, Phil

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Alexis KhazzamPhil LucianoIf I were Elizabeth Khazzam, I’d keep an eye on Phil Luciano. He wrote another love note to her husband Alexis in today’s paper.

Forgive me for not crying big crocodile tears over Khazzam’s ill-fated basketball court on Grandview Drive. If a schmo like me built a basketball court on an easement, I’d buy the contention that it was just an innocent mistake. But this guy is a developer. He knows about easements. He knows about permits. He should have known better.

His offer to tear out the basketball court at his own expense if the village ever needed to use the easement is silly. First of all, there’s no guarantee he’s going to live there forever. Would this agreement be transferrable to the new owner?

Secondly, the crux of the argument that he deserves our sympathy is that he was making this for the public good — it was going to be a little public park he’s creating out of the goodness of his heart for the poor little children of the neighborhood. Yet when the villiage asked him if he’d deed the property to the villiage to officially make it a public park, he blinked.

He can’t have it both ways. If he wants it to be private property and control the use of the land, then he has to abide by the villiage’s laws. As a developer, he should certainly have known that. When it comes to municipalities, the old axiom that it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission never works.

Kudos to the village board for treating Alexis just like any other citizen. Hopefully he won’t take his ball and go home, as Phil suggests. Hey Phil, even nice guys have to fix their mistakes.