Peoria has a reputation for not being especially business-friendly, but Mayor Ardis wants to change that. He’s proposing the city implement nineteen specific changes and/or improvements in a six-page Business Task Force Report (read it here) that was placed on the council agenda for Tuesday. The report was a collaborative effort with Third District Councilman Bob Manning, Fifth District Councilman Patrick Nichting, and local businessman Lee Graves.
The changes are placed under four major categories, or action items:
- Better information and communication regarding the development process.
- Reduced time frames for permits and zoning certificates.
- Changes in codes and/or policies that will facilitate development and redevelopment.
- Customer service and friendly, helpful attitude is a priority and goal for all city employees and departments.
Some of the highlights of the plan: The city is working to develop a “Developer’s Handbook” that would be “a guide to assist customers in the development process, containing regulations, processes, and policies related to development approval.” They would publish it in hard copy and also digital form, presumably to put on the city’s and/or Chamber of Commerce’s website. The goal is to have this project done by September this year.
The report also calls for “a complete rewrite of the city’s comprehensive plan.” This plan hasn’t been updated since 1992. The first phase of that rewrite is happening this weekend — the development of a form-based code for the Heart of Peoria. The rest of the comprehensive plan is tentatively scheduled to be completed by January 2008. That may sound like a long time, but if you’ve ever seen the comprehensive plan (it’s huge), you know that’s a pretty ambitious goal.
City employees would receive customer service training under this plan in order to improve their attitude and professionalism in dealing with city customers. I’ve never had to work with the departments a developer would need to consult, so I can’t comment on their attitude or professionalism. However, the city employees I have dealt with, both in the treasurer’s office and the city clerk’s office, have all been friendly, helpful, and professional.
There are also several items that involve regularly-scheduled meetings between different departments to improve communication, and several very specific items that were undoubtedly brought up by developers as being pet peeves of theirs when working with the city. Many items have already been completed. My favorite is item 2A: they reduced the time it takes to get residential building permits from one day to one hour. Now that’s process improvement!
This is a big step in the right direction. Peoria should be more business-friendly, and this document shows the city is aware of the problem and working to correct it. Kudos to the Business Task Force for their work on this plan.
Blah blah blah blah blah…
This will only be worth the paper it’s printed on. Until a Council is elected that has ANY interest in checking its egos at the door, the same old same old will always apply.
It doesn’t matter one iota if you start your project one hour or later or the following day… what DOES matter is if you get the permit, right? This is just a bunch of hoo-hah… I’m surprised you got sucked into it.
And I thought I was cynical. I’m not sure what you’re driving at, Prego. What would your plan be? A rubber-stamp permit approval process?
I have to agree with Prego’s first paragraph. And my impression over the last 30 years is that Peoria’s attitude towards business has been variable depending on the business and who among the existing power elite is or is not favorable toward it. It does make me wonder who getting paid sometimes.