Daily Archives: April 12, 2006

City Council, Peoria Park District, Peoria Public Schools

City considering responses to school district plans

3 Comments

The city is none too pleased by the collusion of the school board, park board, and public housing authority regarding land swaps on the East Bluff that would leave some residents stripped of their property and others living next to a low-income housing project — all without any public input. It’s only fair for the city council to look out for the best interests of its constituents, but what recourse does it have?

Well, the land that the school board wants to take over by Glen Oak Park includes a couple of city streets (Republic and East). The school board can’t force the city to vacate those streets via eminent domain, and leaving the streets in place would be problematic for the board’s planned siting of the school. So the city’s control over those streets gives them some leverage.

Furthermore, the park district can’t sell land to the school district (it’s illegal), but they can lease it to them. However, if they do, any of that leased land is subject to city zoning ordinances. That means the city would have to approve the use of that land. Right now, as I understand it, the park district would want to use the leased land for parking.

It sounds as though there may be some other tricks up the council’s sleeve, too, so the siting of the new school isn’t “final” yet. It’s too bad things are shaping up for a fight. Last year, it really looked like the school board and the city were starting to get along — the city pitched in some resources to help the school district fight truancy, for instance. Now District 150 has made a lot of enemies and sown a lot of distrust because of their secret plans. Like Polly says, they’ve chosen the path of most resistance.

City Council, Heart of Peoria Plan, Traffic

Council roundup: Good news for older neighborhoods

There were a few items passed by the council Tuesday that are good news for the older part of the city.

First was the Alley Lighting Program. This program will offer property owners, free of charge, high intensity security lights that illuminate the alley serving their property. The city had a similar program from 1995 to 2000, during which time they installed 658 lights. The council voted to spend up to $50,000 to install 150 alley lights in 2006, and tonight they chose to buy the lights from Grainger Electric and have Downard Electric install them.

Secondly, the council approved a contract with Ferrell Madden Associations (FMA) to provide “professional urban design and planning services.” Mayor Ardis praised this as the second phase in implementing the Heart of Peoria Plan (the first phase was the Renaissance Park proposals). Part of the contract is to develop form-based codes for the Heart of Peoria Plan area.

What is a form-based code? Put simply, it is a type of zoning that takes into consideration the context of an improvement or development. For instance, right now if a business in the older part of the city wants to expand, it is held to suburban standards for parking (x number parking spaces for every y number of square feet added). In dense urban areas, this is often impossible because the business is land-locked, so the business either continues without improvement or moves to an area that has more room for expansion, usually on the edge of town where such land is available. A form-based code will take into consideration the urban location and character of an area and apply urban standards for improvement/development of the property.

This goes hand-in-glove with the Heart of Peoria Plan, since it will also allow for mixed-use of properties. (For instance, a store owner could live in an apartment over his store, which would help small-business owners who may not be able to afford a separate store and residence.) This also provides incentive for neighborhood anchor stores to improve and expand, further strengthening the core of the city.

The public gets to provide input on developing the form-based codes (explanatory note to District 150 board members: “public input” means that the public gets to give input before a final decision is made). A charrette will take place May 19-25 at a time and location to be announced.

Finally, the city continues to pursue the purchase of property along Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive so that it can one day be widened and improved.

All of these actions were approved unanimously.