Category Archives: Heart of Peoria Plan

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan, Museum Block, Peoria Mayor

Circle the Square

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I just love irony.

A mere four years ago, the city, then led by former mayor Dave Ransburg, brought in Andres Duany to come with a plan to revitalize the Heart of Peoria. Duany’s company, DPZ, came to town and got a lot of public input through the charrette process. What did the public want? Something like this:

Duany museum

Urban density. 24-hour activity. Residential component. New Urbanism. The Heart of Peoria Plan.

What did they get? Here’s the approved site plan:

Museum Square

Not dense. 9-5 activity. No residential component. Suburban. Antithetical to the Heart of Peoria Plan.

The irony part? They want us to help pay for it now.

Mayor Jim Ardis and seven former mayors pledged Monday to use their collective star power to help raise at least $16 million for the new regional museum over the next year…. “This isn’t for a group of mayors who have sort of done their thing; it’s for you,” said former Mayor Jim Maloof…. “The single most important project I see, along with the Civic Center (expansion), is this museum,” [former mayor Bud] Grieves said. “Whether you can give $5, $500 or $500,000, everybody ought to step up to the plate.” (Source: Journal Star)

The Mayor’s Circle will be out and about speaking to individuals, community groups and civic organizations gathering grassroots support for Museum Square. (Source: 1470 WMBD)

Pardon my frank language, but that takes a lot of balls. First they design something that’s almost the exact opposite of what residents want, then are shocked — shocked, I say! — to find that the money isn’t rolling in. What to do? Redesign? Listen to residents? Nah! “Let’s try to gather grassroots support for our design! Clearly the problem is that residents can’t see the wisdom of our plan.”

Not to mention the fact that one reason the cost of construction is so high is due to the unwarranted and expensive underground parking deck they want to build — against the recommendation of the Heart of Peoria Commission.

“It’s for you,” Maloof says. With all due respect, if it were for us, it would look like the Heart of Peoria Plan, not the Cat Visitor Center Plan. I’ll save my money, thanks. We’ll all be supporting this boondoggle through our property taxes soon enough.

UPDATE (6/27/06 8:44pm):  PeoriaIllinoisan has also written an excellent post on this issue.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan, Peoria Public Schools

Bad news for New Urbanism

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First there was the Civic Center expansion. Then there was the Peoria Museum and Cat Visitor Center.

Next it will be the new District 150 schools.

What am I talking about? Exceptions to the Heart of Peoria Plan, Peoria’s attempt at New Urbanism.

The City’s Efforts

The city has been working hard to develop a form-based code — you know, the kind of code that regulates the form of the built environment, the kind that says you have to make sure your building fits in with the surrounding architecture, construction materials, and setbacks. It’s actually a great idea that will help preserve the character and appeal of the older neighborhoods.

And the best part is that they sought and obtained a lot of input from the most important people: the residents. They held charrettes and got the input of hundreds of ordinary citizens on the kind of built environment they would prefer in these neighborhoods, even working together to reach consensus on those points on which residents disagreed.

The School Board’s Counter-Efforts

Unfortunately, the school district is not interested in the city’s (or the residents’) efforts to revitalize the older neighborhoods. Garrie Allen said at Monday’s school board meeting, “It’s not our job as a school district to clean up blighted areas… We’re not urban renewal people.” That doesn’t sound especially cooperative. In a recent e-mail to a neighborhood activist, another school board member agreed, stating in an even more adversarial tone, “The Board of Education is charged with doing what is best for students, not for neighborhood groups or community redevelopment.”

The law is on the school board’s side. According to legal experts, the 1965 Illinois Appellate Court decision, “Board of Ed., School Dist. 33, DuPage County v. City of West Chicago” (55 Ill.App.2d 401), set the precedent that school districts are not subject to municipal zoning laws or building codes. That means they can build any kind of building they want in whatever style they want, regardless of the city’s form-based codes.

So, hypothetically, if they wanted to put up a 12-story high-rise on the corner of Wisconsin and Frye, they could. Or if they wanted to set up a group of interconnected yurts, they could do that, too. But what they want to do is build a sprawling, single-story, suburban-style school on a large swath of land in the middle of Peoria’s older neighborhoods — the exact type of structure form-based codes are being created to prevent.

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Just because the school board has the legal authority to do something doesn’t mean they have to disregard the clear wishes of neighbors. And, contrary to the rhetoric of school board members, they don’t have to compromise educational objectives to cooperate with the city’s revitalization efforts.

In Seattle, Washington, when their Whittier Elementary School was wearing out and needed to be replaced, they built a new structure in 1999 that the principal described as “uplifting, effective, safe, and secure.” The new building was also designed to meet these requirements (see if they look familiar):

  • Enhance teaching and learning and accommodate the needs of all learners.
  • Serve as center of the community.
  • Result from a planning/design process involving all stakeholders.
  • Provide for health, safety, and security.
  • Make effective use of all available resources.
  • Allow for flexibility and adaptability to changing needs.

These are the same objectives for the new “birth through eighth” school that District 150 wants to build, but there’s one big difference: the new Whittier School in Seattle looks like this:

Whittier Seattle

Notice it is brick, has an urban setback, is multi-story, and sits on a mere 2.7 acres. It cost somewhere between $9 million and $13.6 million total to build, according to published reports. Yet despite the small footprint, this school “has won praise and prizes, including a Citation of Excellence from the American School Board Journal and an Exemplary Learning Environment award from the American Institute of Architects.” It’s also a Learning By Design 2000 Citation Winner.

And how about the kids — do they like it? Are their spirits lifted, and does it make them want to learn? “‘From the minute the children walked in here,’ [the principal] says, ‘I knew we had succeeded. They love it, and that tells me we did things right.'”

If Seattle can figure out how to meet their educational objectives while still making their building congruous with the neighborhood on a small site, I’m sure Peoria can do the same…. if the school board is willing to be open-minded, that is.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan, Peoria Public Schools

The 15-Acre Impasse

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It only took me until the second paragraph of Clare Jellick’s story in the Journal Star to start shaking my head in disbelief:

The [Peoria Public School] district [150] has agreed to partner with the City of Peoria to identify a site of about 15 acres that includes [Glen Oak] primary school, U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood announced Monday at a press conference following a meeting between local officials.

What is it with the school board and their obsession with getting 15 acres for an urban school? This arbitrary standard is the single most destructive policy the school board is following — it is the reason they wanted to build next to Glen Oak Park in the first place, and if it is not abandoned, it will damage every neighborhood where they want to build a new urban school.

Any compromise the city makes with the school district must include a decrease in their minimum acreage standards.

Why? There are five main reasons: (1) Minimum acreage requirements have been officially abandoned by educational experts as of 2004, (2) the State of Illinois does not require any minimum acreage for school siting, (3) there is no evidence that the amount of acreage has any effect on student achievement, (4) acreage requirements are counter to the Heart of Peoria Plan, which the council adopted “in principle,” and (5) minimum acreage requirements have a negative impact on student health and the environment.

Continue reading The 15-Acre Impasse →

City of Peoria, Form-Based Code, Heart of Peoria Plan, Peoria Streets

The Cold War is over; no need for sprawl anymore

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At Thursday’s form-based code “Work-In-Progress” presentation, I learned something new. Do you know what one of the big contributing factors to suburban sprawl was? Civil defense. Really!

In 1951, as a way of protecting us from nuclear attack, President Truman announced his National Industrial Dispersion Policy. The idea was to provide incentives for cities to get their industrial plants away from densely populated areas so that, if the bomb drops, it would minimize the damage. This assumes the old-school mentality that our enemies would only go after military targets and want to minimize civilian casualties.

Well, city planners started planning with this “dispersion” principle in mind, and, lo and behold, our cities are now dispersed! Everything is separate and safe from those Soviet nukes. Except the Soviets are gone and our new enemies are just as happy taking out civilians, so our sprawling cities offer us no protection now. Truman couldn’t have seen that coming.

Other than that, Thursday’s meeting was nothing new for a regular HOP presentation attender. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, because it was. But it’s lost the “wow” factor for me because I’ve seen so many of these artists’ renderings and Photoshopped pictures of what Peoria could look like in the future: tree-lined streets with landscaped boulevards, historic streetlamps, angled parking, wider sidewalks, and bustling pedestrian traffic. It’s time to take the next step of turning those pictures into reality for Peoria.

It all starts in the black and white minutiae of zoning rules and regulations. Nothing is as powerful as zoning at shaping a city.

For example, take a drive down Knoxville and check out the new doctor’s office on the northwest corner of Knoxville and Corrington. All the other professional offices along that stretch of Knoxville are set close to the sidewalk with parking in the rear. But the new office has to conform to one-size-fits-all suburban zoning laws which require it to be set back from the street and provide parking in front. As buildings are replaced, you can see how, over time, that kind of zoning could change the whole character of that stretch.

Because the stakes are so high in tinkering with the zoning ordinances, getting citizen input is essential. But at the same time, it’s the fun part of the job. The real work begins when you try to codify the citizens’ desires into regulatory language, working with public works staff, planning engineers, and other government officials. That’s why Ferrell & Madden get the big bucks.

Perhaps the hardest sell and the most controversial part of their presentation is their recommendation to create another dreaded TIF (tax-increment financing) district for the Warehouse District. Their reasoning is that it’s the only financially feasible way to turn that area around. There are myriad infrastructure needs (from environmental cleanup of hydrolic fluid to upgrading power lines), and no reasonable way to finance them other than through a TIF.

However, they reason, what people are really upset about is the abuse of TIFs in Peoria, not the proper use of them. They stressed that this is an example of the type of project for which TIFs were created. This TIF would benefit a whole area, not just one business or developer like we’ve seen at MidTown Plaza, for instance.

When Ferrell Madden Associates are done, here’s what we’ll have: (1) very specific form-based codes for the Sheridan/Loucks Triangle, Prospect Corridor, and Warehouse District, and (2) zoning changes for the rest of the Heart of Peoria from euclidian zoning rules (dispersion) to traditional city planning principles (mixed-use).

Things won’t change overnight, and we certainly need to work on other problems in tandem (crime, schools), but this is one piece of the puzzle that will help transform the Heart of Peoria into a more desirable place to live and work.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan

The charrette: Citizens relish chance to help city improve

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Energetic Collaboration

Over 100 people (including me) showed up at the Ironfront Building Saturday morning at 8:30 to participate in the Ferrell-Madden-Associates-facilitated charrette. After some brief opening remarks, we all gathered in small groups at tables to discuss one of three topics: the Sheridan/Loucks Triangle, the Prospect Road Corridor, or the Heart of Peoria in general.

I sat at one of the “general” tables. The first thing we did was a “SWOT” analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) — they didn’t call it that; I’m just using corporate lingo to describe it. Once we finished with that individual exercise, we got to work together and draw. The tables each had a large map of Peoria with the “Heart of Peoria” (HOP) area outlined and a large piece of tracing paper over it. We were given instructions to identify several things on the map, such as:

  • Places that we considered beautiful and would like to see mimicked the rest of the HOP.
  • Places that we felt were a huge mistake and should never be allowed to happen again (true story: as soon as that item was read, several of us at the table looked at each other and said in unison, “Campustown”).
  • Special buildings we felt should be saved and/or copied.
  • Buildings that were eyesores and should be torn down.
  • Streets that work well and should be used as a template elsewhere.
  • Streets that need improvement and how they could be improved.

This process was actually quite fun because it allowed all of us to put our ideas on paper and dream a little bit. There was the tendency for it to spiral into a complaining session, there’s no denying that, but I thought our group did a good job of staying positive. There were a lot of positive observations and ingenious ideas of what could be done to improve things in the older parts of the city.

Unfortunately, I had to leave early, so I didn’t get to see what happened next, but it’s my understanding that the facilitators tried to synthesize all the SWOT analyses and improvement plans among the “general” tables. They’ll use all that information to develop a form-based code — a regulatory document that will incorporate rules for how development should look in the older areas of town.

I can tell you from my experience that the room was buzzing — there was so much energy in that room Saturday morning, it was hard not to be inspired by all the citizen involvement. Will form-based codes solve all of Peoria’s problems? No. But there really isn’t any one thing — no silver bullet — that will solve all of Peoria’s problems. It will take a combination of efforts and, above all, time. But we have to start somewhere, and I would much rather see the city start with the citizens, getting our input, than hiring another “expert” consultant to tell us what we want. I think this is a step in the right direction.

Concern about gentrification

That said, there is one concern regarding New Urbanism that came up at both the meetings I attended this weekend that I believe deserves a fair hearing: negative effects of gentrification.

Gentrification happens when an area is improved so much that it becomes hot property and many people want to live there. A negative effect of this is that lower-income residents can’t afford to live there anymore due to rising housing and rental prices. In an effort to stabilize a neighborhood, the very people it was supposed to help end up being displaced by wealthier citizens who essentially take over the neighborhood.

When asked about this, Geoffrey Ferrell affirmed that it is something to be concerned about — but not right now, he added. He said that if/when the city’s efforts to revitalize the older neighborhoods become wildly successful, measures will need to be put in place to protect those areas from the negative effects of gentrification. However, that’s a long ways down the road.

Also, USA Today reported last year that conventional wisdom about gentrification may not be supported by the facts. Lance Freeman of Columbia University did a study comparing relocation rates of the poor in gentrified and non-gentrified areas of New York and found surprisingly little difference between them. In other words, the displacement of the poor is largely theoretical.

Still, it would be a good idea for Peoria to plan for success — that is, start considering now what Peoria will do to ameliorate any possible negative effects of gentrification in the Heart of Peoria. It’s always better to be proactive, if for no other reason than to help relieve the fears of lower-income residents of the inner city. When you get right down to it, this would be a wonderful problem for Peoria to have, insomuch as it would mean our efforts to revitalize the older part of the city were successful beyond our wildest imagination.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan

Studio H.O.P.: Open government at work

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Recently, Peorians have been up in arms about some decisions that were made by a certain government body without adequate input from the citizens. It made us feel left out, undervalued, like our opinion doesn’t matter about issues that affect us and our neighborhoods.

Well, if you felt that way, then you need to be at these “Studio H.O.P.” charrettes this weekend. The city council and staff are going out of their way to show you that they do value you, they want your opinion, and they want you to have a say in something that will directly affect you.

The charrette (or “citizen collaboration,” for those of you who don’t like French words) process is “to focus and record the political will of the citizens,” according to consultants Geoffrey Ferrell and Mary Madden who kicked off the Studio H.O.P. charrettes tonight (5/19) at the Civic Center. To successfully determine the “political will of the citizens,” they need as many citizens as possible to be there — to collaborate on this project.

What’s taking place this weekend is nothing less than a rewriting of the city’s comprehensive plan for the Heart of Peoria (roughly defined as the area of the city south of War Memorial Drive — think of it as the pre-Richwoods-Township-annexation area). The city will essentially be throwing out the Euclidian zoning laws which require strict segregation of commercial and residential land uses, and replacing them with something called “form-based codes.”

One website defines form-based codes as “a land development regulatory tool that places primary emphasis on the physical form of the built environment with the end goal of producing a specific type of ‘place.'” What the charrettes try to determine is just what type of “place” Peorians want to have, and then codify those desires into a regulatory document.

The charrettes will cover the entire Heart of Peoria area, but will give special emphasis to the Sheridan/Loucks triangle, the Prospect Road corridor, and the Warehouse District.

All they really want to know is how you want Peoria to look. How do you want the streets to look? The blocks? The neighborhoods? The special places? There will be a lot of ideas generated, and undoubtedly some contradictory ideas — they all get considered. When the idea gathering is done, the consultants will try to synthesize the ideas as much as possible, although there will obviously need to be some compromise on the most divergent ideas.

In the end, we’ll have a code that tells homeowners, developers, et al., what kind of physical form we want in our neighborhoods and business districts so that when they are developed and built out, they maintain the character and consistency we enjoy and expect.

And you have the opportunity to have a voice in writing this code. If you can make it, even for part of the day, it will be well worth your time to attend. The charrette goes from 8:30-Noon on Saturday, May 20.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan

Charrettes start tonight

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The charrettes start tonight, and they have an updated schedule:

  • Friday, May 19, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
    Heart of Peoria Charrette Kick-off Reception
    Location: Peoria Civic Center. Rooms 221 and 222
  • Saturday, May 20, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
    Charrette session for Sheridan Road-Loucks Corridor, Prospect Road Corridor, and Heart of Peoria Neighborhoods.
    Location: The Design Studio, 2nd floor of the Iron Front Building, 424 S.W. Washington Street. Free parking under the Bob Michel Bridge.
  • Sunday, May 21, 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
    Charrette session for Warehouse District.
    Location: The Design Studio, 2nd floor of the Iron Front Building, 424 S.W. Washington Street. Free Parking under the Bob Michel Bridge.
City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan, HOPC

Make plans now to attend the charrette

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“An important part of maintaining the traditional neighborhoods of Peoria has to do with recognizing, preserving, and, when necessary, reinforcing their historic character.”

— Andres Duany, Heart of Peoria Plan, 2002

The city really, really wants you to come to their charrette this weekend. They’re begging you. As a long-time proponent of New Urbanism and the Heart of Peoria Plan, I urge you to attend as well. Here’s what it is and how you can participate:

The City of Peoria, led by the Planning Department and Heart of Peoria Commission, is initiating a significant project impacting nearly 8,000 acres of the Heart of Peoria. The Planning Department and Heart of Peoria commission are being assisted by commission representatives from Renaissance Park, Zoning, and Planning Commission, plus business representatives from Prospect, Sheridan, and the Warehouse District. The project is the second major phase in the implementation of the Heart of Peoria (H.O.P.) Plan that was completed in 2002 by Duany Plater-Zyberk. The first was the impressive work that has been done, and continues to be done, for the Renaissance Park area.

This project, Phase II, provides an opportunity for Peoria citizens to work with a team of nationally recognized experts to create a plan, and implement that plan through a form-based code. This will be a Peoria plan to represent what Peoria wants in residential and business neighborhoods. The new codes that are created to represent what we want will be tools to help in the revitalization and redevelopment of established business and residential neighborhoods.

It may seem like zoning/coding is somewhat arcane, but it really can make a big difference to the character and health of our older neighborhoods. If you’ve ever had a home or business pop up near you that just didn’t fit the character of your neighborhood, you know what a negative impact it can have. This is an opportunity for you to have input into how the heart of Peoria should look and feel and have it codified; plus, this is open to everyone. You don’t have to own a big business or be some sort of mover and shaker to have your ideas taken seriously.

If you want to go, here’s the schedule:

Studio H.O.P. Kick Off Presentation

  • Friday, May 19—6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
    Peoria Civic Center, room 221 and 222

Charrette Sessions (Studio H.O.P., 2nd floor Iron Front Building, 424 S.W. Washington, Peoria)

  • Saturday, May 20—8:30 a.m. to 12:30 noon
    Heart of Peoria charrette sessions for Sheridan-Loucks, Prospect Road and Heart of Peoria neighborhoods
  • Sunday, May 21—2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
    Heart of Peoria charrette sessions for the Warehouse District

Studio H.O.P. Designers at Work (Studio H.O.P., 2nd floor Iron Front Building, 424 S.W. Washington, Peoria) You are invited to watch Ferrell Madden urban designers at work on our plans.

  • Monday, May 22—8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
  • Tuesday, May 23—8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, May 24—8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Work in Progress Presentation (Peoria Civic Center, room 221 and 222)

  • Thursday, May 25—6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
    Studio HOP Work-in-Progress Presentation
    Ferrell Madden Associates and their team present plans for our neighborhoods

It’s worth attending. I hope you can make it.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan

Urban design forum planned for May 19-20

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From the Department of Planning and Growth Management:

Much has happened since 2002 when the Heart of Peoria (H.O.P.) Plan was developed using a charette process directed by the firm of Duany Plater-Zyberk. Learn of the progress we have made in implementing this plan and join us for the exciting second phase of the project. Voice your opinions and add your ideas to those of City Council members, commissioners, city staff, neighborhood and business leaders, and your fellow citizens.

The weeklong urban design forum of Studio H.O.P., directed by the experts at Ferrell Madden, will result in specific concepts and designs for the Sheridan-Loucks Corridor, the Warehouse District and the Prospect Road Corridor. Other New Urbanism strategies will also be created for other Heart of Peoria neighborhoods.

The opening session will be held at the Civic Center on Friday night, May 19, at 6:30 p.m. The hands-on design session for neighborhoods will be held on Saturday, May 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Iron Front Building (424 SW Washington). You can find out more information by going to www.heartofpeoria.com or calling the Planning and Growth Management Department at 494-8600.

It’s very encouraging to see the city actively working on implementing the Heart of Peoria Plan. It’s also refreshing to see public input proactively welcomed and seen as valuable (in contrast to the school district’s actions of late).

The website is very informative, although its graphics are so large that it takes a long time to load each page, even with a broadband connection. They should look into reducing the file size of the pictures to make the site more user-friendly and so it doesn’t detract from the excellent content.

At this point, I’m planning to attend the charette. I never got a chance to attend the original charettes back in 2002 because of my work schedule, but I think I will be able to attend one of the dates this time.

City Council, City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan

Council Roundup: Prospect Road to get face lift à la Sheridan/Loucks triangle

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Just like the façade improvement program approved last month for Sheridan Road, Prospect Road south of War Memorial is getting some city help to improve its look as well.

I do a fair amount of criticism of the city on this blog, but I have to applaud the façade improvement program. This program is brilliantly-conceived and well-executed. It helps older neighborhoods, it implements the Heart of Peoria Plan, and it shows some commitment from the city to long-time established businesses.

Kudos to the city for a job well-done!