Daily Archives: June 2, 2007

City Council, City of Peoria, HOPC

Council agenda misleading regarding HOPC request

4 Comments

Here’s the item as it was presented to the council on the agenda for June 5:

ITEM NO. 2 REQUESTS for CONSIDERATION of the Following:

A. Communication from Mayor Jim Ardis with Request to Provide More Focus and Maximize Resources for the Implementation of the Heart of Peoria Plan Concepts by Adopting the Following:

  1. ORDINANCE Amending Ordinance No. 15,571 Pertaining to the HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION Changing the STATUS of the HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION;
  2. ORDINANCE Amending CHAPTER 23 of the Code of the City of Peoria Pertaining to EXPANSION of the PLANNING COMMISSION by FOUR POSITIONS; and
  3. TRANSFER and APPOINTMENT of HEART OF PEORIA COMMISIONERS to EXISTING PLANNING and/or REGULATORY COMMISSIONS, with Recommendation to Concur:
    • Beth Akeson (Voting): Planning Commission – Term 6/6/2007 – 6/30/2008
    • Joe Richey (Voting): Planning Commission – Term 6/6/2007 – 6/30/2009
    • Dick Schwebel (Voting): Planning Commission – Term 6/6/2007 – 6/30/2008
    • Christopher Summers (Voting): Planning Commission – Term 6/6/07 – 6/30/2009
    • Nancy Biggins (Voting): Zoning Board of Appeals – Term 6/6/2007 – 6/30/2009
    • Patrick Sullivan (Voting): Traffic Commission – Term 6/6/2007 – 6/30/2009
    • Bill Washkuhn: Commission Assignment to be Determined.
OR

B. Communication from Director of Planning and Growth Management with Recommendation from the Heart of Peoria Commission to MAINTAIN the COMMISSION’S STATUS Based on the HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION’S MISSION STATEMENT, VISION, and CORE VALUES and the CONDITION that the Commission Develop a Work Plan by July 30, 2007, to Complete the Work with the Planning and Growth Management Department to Achieve those Goals.

The way this has been communicated to the council is, unfortunately, misleading. This makes it look like the choice is between the mayor’s proposal (all changes) or the Heart of Peoria Commission’s proposal (no changes). That’s simply not true.

What the Heart of Peoria Commission (HOPC) clearly voted on at their last meeting was their preference for option A above, but without subsection 1. In other words, we strongly agreed with the expansion of the planning commission and the appointment of Heart of Peoria commissioners to various commissions as outlined, but we do not want the status of the Heart of Peoria Commission changed (i.e., we don’t want HOPC decommissioned).

We looked at the pros and cons of continuing as a city-appointed commission versus as a private advocacy group, and we decided we could be more effective as a city-appointed commission. However, we also decided that, in order for the principles of new urbanism to have the most impact, we needed the dual appointments of HOPC commissioners on other commissions — especially the planning commission, since they oversee the city’s comprehensive planning process.

So it was a little surprising to read the council agenda and see the options set so starkly opposed, all-or-nothing. Hopefully, the council can get things sorted out on the council floor Tuesday night.

City Council, City of Peoria

Council reverses course, votes to eliminate fees

13 Comments

I’m really confused. The city needs revenue. There are fees on the books to bring in revenue. The council voted to increase those fees last year. Yet, inexplicably, the council reversed that decision and is now eliminating those fees. What happened?

You may recall that last August a large property management company bought the old Commercial National Bank building (now used by National City), and they wanted the city to eliminate their annual fees for encroachments of their underground vaults on the public way. It came to light that the city had not been collecting the fee for something like 30 years, but no accounting was ever given for this gross oversight.

Well, last October, the council decided by a vote of 8-2 (Nichting and Ardis were the only nays) “to keep the existing ordinance and modify and update the fee structure regarding underground vaults.” Case closed, right?

Nope. City staff sent letters to the affected property owners and, lo and behold, they complained about the fee. They said it wasn’t fair. They said it would increase the cost of doing business downtown. City staff complained (again) that they’d have to go out to the businesses and inspect them in order to verify the proper fee. So the issue came up to the council again on May 22, 2007. This time, the council voted 9-1 (Manning was the only nay) “to eliminate the current annual fee as provided in the existing Ordinance.”

So, the multi-million-dollar company that owns the Commercial Bank building downtown won’t have to pay that extra $500 annual fee that was apparently of grave concern to them. City staff will get to save a couple of days of looking at building vaults. And the rest of Peoria’s citizens will continue to pay the regressive garbage fee.

Hey, as long as we’re eliminating fees and work, why not get rid of parking fees? After all, since the city is so spread out and there isn’t adequate public transportation, citizens are forced to drive to do business downtown, and thus forced to find someplace to park their car. Hence, using the city’s logic, it’s unfair to charge them for something that’s out of their control. All parking violations have to be verified and ticketed by city employees (meter maids). It raises the cost of doing business downtown. And it’s unpopular with citizens and businesses alike. So who will argue for the elimination of this fee? Anyone? Anyone?

*chirp* *chirp*

Let me guess: the $60,000 the underground-vault fees would bring in to city coffers isn’t worth the trouble, right? I’ll keep that in mind as the city works on the budget again this year.