Category Archives: Bradley University

Bradley University, City of Peoria, The Uplands

Another “oops” in Bradley’s plan

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It’s enough to make a person paranoid. You may recall about a year ago, Bradley was rewriting its institutional zoning plan, and they wanted to include a part of the Uplands neighborhood in it. Specifically, they wanted to include the Pi Phi house, 1004 N. Institute Pl.:

The Uplands Residential Association said they’d rather not see precedent set for Bradley reaching across Main, especially after their track record with the Arbor District. At that time, Bradley stated they would abide by the wishes of the neighborhood association, and they did. They removed the Pi Phi House from their institutional plan.

But now, fast forward to this week’s council agenda. The institutional plan is being modified again at the request of Williams Brothers Construction because they built the new parking deck too close to the right-of-way on Main street. The only changes to the plan were supposed to be the revised setback requirement for the parking deck, a reduction in the number of parking spaces in the deck, and landscaping changes for better pedestrian access.

But guess what else was in there to be changed? On a whim, I decided to read the legal description of the institutional zone, and I’ll be darned if the Pi Phi House wasn’t added to the legal description! A suspicious person might even say it was snuck in. If this were to pass tonight as written, the Pi Phi House would be part of Bradley’s institutional plan, without any input from the neighbors, without anyone knowing about it.

I alerted my city council person and city staff of the issue, and they have taken action to remove the Pi Phi House from the legal description. Pat Landes, Director of Planning and Growth Management, said:

  1. Staff reviewed the proposed ordinance scheduled for Council consideration tomorrow night and the 1004 Institute property is included in the legal; it should not be. You may recall that at one point during the previous two Bradley cases [adding Maplewood properties and cleaning up boundaries] in 2007 there had been consideration of adding the Institute property to the Official Development Plan area. You directed the removal of the property based upon input from constituents.
  2. A revised ordinance will be on the Council’s desk for tomorrow night’s meeting and will be e-mailed to you as soon as drafted and reviewed.
  3. The intent of communications, proposed and 20078] was clear – the Institute address was not listed in the subject matter and application, and was not included on any maps. We will be checking through all of the past ordinances to determine if the Institute address or legal was included in the legal descriptions and make any necessary adjustments.
  4. I apologize on behalf of the department for not catching this error in the legal submitted.

So, the legal description was “submitted” — submitted by whom? Bradley. Ultimately Bradley. The contractor (Williams Brothers Construction) is listed as the petitioner, but Bradley would have to sign off on any requested changes to their institutional plan, and they would have had to have provided the legal description, either directly to the city or through Williams Brothers.

No doubt this will be attributed to another unintentional mistake. Just like the parking deck misplacement was just a mistake. After these two “oops” moments from Bradley, and the “mistake” by another developer on Fairoaks, the “mistake” excuse is starting to wear a little thin. It’s starting to sound like the little boy who cried wolf.

Bradley University

The wrecking begins

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Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse is coming down. The name has been removed from the front, and demolition crews have started descending on the old hangars. It’s had a good run.

I have a certain amount of nostalgia for the old place. But at the same time, I’m not all broken up by its departure. It’s not an architecturally significant building. It’s not really even that old. I have a lot of memories of concerts and events that I’ve attended there, and the place certainly had character. I’ll miss it.

But the new venue will be very nice and tailored to Bradley’s needs. And we’ll just have to start making new memories.

Bradley University, City of Peoria

“Green Plays in Peoria” seminar April 23

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From a City of Peoria notice:

Please join the leadership of Peoria to discuss what Peoria can do to encourage continued improvement in………

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

“Green Plays in Peoria”
April 23, 2008
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Gateway Building

AGENDA

5:30 p.m. Welcome – City of Peoria, Mayor Jim Ardis
5:35 p.m. New Urbanism/ Sustainable Development – Ray Lees, Planning Commission Chair & Craig Hullinger, Economic Development
5:40 p.m. Civil Engineering and Construction – Dr. Amir Al-Khafaji, Bradley University
5:45 p.m. Green Navigation – Brian Davie, Farnsworth Group
5:50 – 7:00 p.m. Participants will break into small 8-10 person groups and develop goals/strategies
7:00 – 7:30 p.m. Small group presents goals/strategies to larger group

The goals and strategies developed by the participants will be considered in the development of the new City’s Comprehensive Plan.

More information at: http://sustainablepeoria.blogspot.com

More information at: http://peoriaed.blogspot.com

For comments or questions: Contact craighullinger@gmail.com

RSVP with Stephanie Grayson 309.494.8640 or sgrayson@ci.peoria.il.us

Sponsored by the City of Peoria and the Civil Engineering and Construction Department at Bradley University

Arbor District, Bradley University

Irony of the day

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“We’re pushing up to 100 employees who live in the 61606 area, and we would like to have more. The ‘Walking West Bluff’ initiative would be attractive to many current and prospective employees because of the University’s proximity,” said Gary Anna, vice president of business affairs for Bradley.

This from the institution that just mowed down two city blocks of homes immediately adjacent to it in order to put up a five-story parking deck for commuters. Added Second District Council Member Barbara Van Auken: “[T]hese are institutions that really cannot thrive if they’re not surrounded by safe, attractive, stable neighborhoods.”

Bradley University, City of Peoria

Don’t we employ people to ensure this doesn’t happen?

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As you’ve no doubt seen in the Journal Star, the new parking deck at Bradley University is being built a little too close to Main Street:

The parking deck’s concrete base – which already is in place – is anywhere from 2 to 9 feet closer to the city’s right-of-way property than allowed. “They [the local contractor] found the error and immediately informed us,” Second District Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken, whose district includes Bradley University, said.

My question is, shouldn’t this have been caught sooner? Say, by Peoria’s building inspections department? Aren’t they supposed to make sure that a building is being constructed in compliance with city codes and the approved site plan?

Here’s another example. Take a look at 819 E. Fairoaks (corner of Fairoaks and Illinois). This is a new house being built in an older neighborhood — in fact, it’s within the Heart of Peoria Plan area and falls under the regulations of the Land Development Code. The site plan that was submitted to and approved by the city was in compliance. But the house that’s constructed there — and almost completed — is different than the site plan, and decidedly not in compliance (The attached garage was supposed to be “set back 6′ from longest plane of street side facade,” but instead it was built 12′ in front of the facade, a difference of 18′). Once it came to the attention of the Planning & Growth Department, a stop work order was issued, and now the contractor will either have to comply with the approved site plan or seek a variance.

In both cases, the construction progressed to an advanced stage before non-compliance was discovered. And in both cases, the non-compliance was not discovered by the city, but by someone else (contractor, citizen) who reported it to the city. So my question again is, why isn’t the building inspections department catching this sooner in the construction process? According to the City of Peoria’s website:

The City of Peoria has six full time building inspectors who inspect all construction requiring a permit. These inspectors verify that the construction or alterations specified in the permit are carried out at the construction site.

So, how did they miss these two properties? And how many other properties are out of compliance that haven’t gotten caught?

Bradley University

With a little help from my friends

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Another Bradley student is dead, the victim of horseplay. Once again, the perpetrator was an underage drinker:

According to police reports, the two friends were walking on the sidewalk along the west side of University with about five other people when [Robert] Hurt was allegedly pushed into oncoming traffic and struck by the passenger side of a southbound car near the intersection of Russell Street….

Hurt was taken to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center with severe head injuries and died about an hour later, according to Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll…. After interviewing witnesses, police arrested [Brandon] Gish. He was also ticketed for consumption of alcohol by a minor along with Brooke A. Rumbold, 20.

Hurt was 21; Gish is 19.

I’ll be interested to hear more specifics on this case as the details unfold. The paper says Gish pushed Hurt into oncoming traffic — this leaves me with many questions. Was he just trying to push him generally, and Hurt lost his balance and fell into oncoming traffic? Did he get pushed into the street in time to get back on the sidewalk if he would have reacted quicker? Or did Gish deliberately push Hurt in front of a car, thinking that his friend wouldn’t be badly injured from the incident, but might walk away with some bumps and bruises? Or some other permutation of these options?

And what about the alcohol? Was it a factor? We know it impairs judgment and reaction time. It had to have played some part in the incident. Bradley has already formed a committee to develop a comprehensive alcohol action plan; it was formed after a previous incident where a student died as the result of a prank involving roman candles.

One thing we know for sure: this is a tragedy, and my sympathy goes out to everyone involved and their families, but especially the parents of Hurt. My deepest condolences to them.

Bradley University

Hold your breath, neighbors — Bradley has a new vision

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And now a news report (courtesy of WEEK-TV) that will send shivers up the spine of every remaining homeowner in the Arbor District, and other surrounding neighborhoods:

Bradley University’s president [Joanne Glasser] has a vision that she believes will be a renaissance for the school. In addition to new facilities to replace Haussler Hall and Robertson Memorial Field House, new projects will be announced this spring as part of the university’s Renaissance Project. … Glasser says Bradley will unveil more details about the Renaissance project April 24.

Oh, great. The last time a Bradley president had a vision, a whole street full of beautiful, 100-year-old single-family homes were torn down so they could put up a five-story parking deck. The whole neighborhood was destabilized as owner-occupied homes started falling to rental property like dominoes.

I and my neighbors will be holding our collective breath until April 24, hoping that these “new projects” won’t “improve” Bradley at the expense of our home values again.

UPDATE: Shelley Epstein called me today (he works for Bradley now; he’s no longer with Ameren), and wanted to assure me and my readers that the university has no plans to expand its footprint. They are committed to their 15-year plan that was approved by the city, and are on record as saying so.

I appreciate the assurance, but he’ll have to forgive me and my neighbors if we’re a bit less than trusting, considering it was only a few months ago that they broke their last 15-year plan to which they were ostensibly committed. There are encouraging signs, such as the fact that there’s a new president now and the administration at Bradley has been having regular meetings with neighbors. Nevertheless, I just can’t shake my suspicious feelings. How does that old saying go? “Fool me once, shame on you…”

Bradley University

Bradley’s presidential candidate: Joanne Glasser

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Joanne GlasserWe don’t have to speculate any longer. The secret Bradley candidate for president is Joanne K. Glasser. The Journal Star and WEEK are making a big deal out of the fact that Bradley’s presidential candidate is a woman, as if we were living in 1957 when that would be really shocking.

She’s currently the president of Eastern Kentucky University. Here’s a little bit about her from her bio page on EKU’s website:

President Glasser, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from George Washington University; a Juris Doctorate Degree from The University of Maryland School of Law; and a Certificate from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Institute of Higher Education Management.

In 2004, Glasser was a finalist for president of Illinois State University, but pulled out of the search before a decision was made.

From everything I’ve read about her, she appears to be a perfect match for Bradley. She has the education and the fund-raising skills, and students seem to like her. According to an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader, each year she invites all freshman to her house for a backyard cookout. In 2005, that was 1,800 freshman. “She estimated 75 percent attend,” the paper reported. That certainly sets her apart from Broski, who as I understand it couldn’t be visually identified by Bradley students his entire tenure.

Hopefully, if selected, she’ll come up with a creative way to help the university grow without harming surrounding neighborhoods in the process. That would also set her apart from Broski.

Bradley University, City Council, City of Peoria

“Mature neighborhoods” worth saving from IDOT, but not Bradley

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At Tuesday’s council meeting, there was quite a bit of discussion about the Northmoor Road improvement project. If the city is going to use IDOT funds for this project, they have to follow IDOT’s rules, and in this case it would mean widening the street to five lanes between Allen and Sheridan roads. The road doesn’t need five lanes.

So, the City Council is trying to persuade IDOT to see things the city’s way and approve fewer lanes for this project, yet not jeopardize our share of federal funds in the process. This is all laudable.

I couldn’t help but notice the irony, though, when Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken started waxing eloquent about why we need to say “no” to IDOT. We need to stand up and say “no,” she said, because these five-lane highways harm “mature neighborhoods.” And if they don’t believe it harms “mature neighborhoods,” then they can come down here and a take a little tour, she continued. We need to tell IDOT that we’re not going to let them mar one more “mature neighborhood,” even if it means losing that federal money, she concluded. She made a very strong statement, and I agree wholeheartedly with it.

I just wish she’d been that bold toward Bradley University when they decided to decimate a “mature neighborhood” for the sake of a parking garage in her own district.

Arbor District Demolition

*My thanks to PeoriaIllinoisan from whom I shamelessly stole this picture.