The city council on Tuesday tacitly approved Craig Hullinger’s request to pursue his plan to put townhouses and a street between the Riverplex and Spring Street near the river. (Councilman Sandberg voted against having Hullinger spend his time on that project because he would like to see other projects that we’ve already started come to fruition before efforts are divided to work on other projects. Councilman Spain countered that, if we wait until all the current projects are implemented, we won’t be coming up with any new ideas for a long time; he used the warehouse district as an example of a project that may take seven years or more to complete.)

I got a chance to talk to Hullinger yesterday before the council meeting, and one of the interesting things I learned (though I had heard of this anecdotally before) was how various city documents are not coordinated. Case in point: this area bordered by the train tracks and river, Spring Street and the Riverplex.

• If you look at the Zoning Map for Peoria (updated 2005), you’ll see that this area is zoned R-3 (single-family residential) from Spring to Wayne, and C-2 (large-scale commercial) from Wayne to the interstate.
• If you look at the Comprehensive Plan’s Future Land Use Map (adopted 2001), it has the area from the interstate all the way to Morton Street (this area includes the Riverplex) designated as park land. From Morton to Spring, it’s designated as a mix of commercial and high-density residential.
• If you look at the Heart of Peoria Plan (adopted “in principle” in 2002), it recommends the city “pursue development of a whitewater race course, utilizing available land to the north of the current recreational and fitness complex.” That would stretch from the Riverplex parking lot almost to Evans Street.

All of this leads me to conclude that the city needs someone somewhere to coordinate the many and various plans the city has adopted. I’m sure this isn’t the only part of town where plans conflict with each other. Who makes sure they’re in harmony? Which plan has precedence? Or are they all equal?

The city is currently in the middle of writing a new comprehensive plan. Hopefully these conflicts will be resolved during that process.