Category Archives: Heart of Peoria Plan

City Council, Heart of Peoria Plan, Museum Block

Museum Square Revisited

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The boomerang-shaped building is back.  And it wants more money.

Apparently the underground parking deck is going to cost $3 million more than planners thought, so now they want to set up a TIF to pay for it.  The Journal Star editorializes that the city should give them the money because it’s a “signature development of this generation.”  They reason that it was the Heart of Peoria Commission’s recommendation that led to the idea of putting the parking underground, so the city should accept responsibility for that action.  After all, they argue, “Would City Hall prefer that Museum Square have a suburban-style surface lot on its riverfront?”

That’s a rhetorical question, of course.  But it’s also a false dichotomy.  There are several other options in reality.  In fact, this could be just the opening the city council and Heart of Peoria Commission needs to revisit the site plans overall.  Let’s look at just a couple of other options:

Do We Really Need More Parking?

One thing to consider is whether additional parking is necessary on that block at all.  There’s a parking deck and surface lot directly across Water Street that gets very little use during the day.  And since, under the current design, Museum Square will only be active during the day, wouldn’t that parking suffice?  You have to figure, they’re only developing a little over a third of the square footage on the old Sears block, and the museum design doesn’t include any residential or restaurant component that would keep people there past 5:00 when the museum closes.  Why the need for more parking?

Change the Building Plans

One of the reasons the underground parking is going to be so expensive to build is because it’s a rectangular parking area partially underneath the building and partially underneath a courtyard.  In other words, the footprint of the building and the footprint of the parking deck don’t line up.  That adds to the cost.  So, I think it would be reasonable to suggest that developers consider modifying their building plans. 

Why not?  Museum backers are wanting to change the financial details of the plan; why isn’t it fair game for the council to turn the tables and ask the developers to change the physical details of the plan?  There’s more than one way to save $3 million. 

There’s plenty of justification for this idea that goes beyond the parking situation.  As I’ve written previously, the current design for Museum Square is totally contrary to the Heart of Peoria Plan, which the city council adopted “in principle.”  The Heart of Peoria Commission unwisely chose not to make a recommendation when the site plan came before the council back in November.  But maybe this new wrinkle will give them and the council a second chance.

If Museum Square were to follow the Heart of Peoria Plan, the parking deck wouldn’t be an issue:

  • The style of the buildings would be in keeping with the surrounding architecture, meaning (among other things) they would be more rectangular in shape, making it possible for the footprints of the building and underground parking to coincide.
  • There would be more density on the block.  Instead of only a little more than a third of the block being developed, over two-thirds would be utilized; a larger building footprint means more room for parking underneath.
  • There would be residential (or hospitality), retail, and restaurant components included in the plans, which would generate additional revenue for the development and keep the block active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, justifying the need for more parking in the first place.

The Journal Star is right about one thing.  This will be the “signature development of this generation.”  So isn’t it important that we get it right?  I know some may balk at the idea of sending the planners “back to the drawing board” at this point when they’re so far along in the process.  But until the buildings are in brick and mortar, all they have to change is their paper drawings, and that’s not going to cost $3 million.

Now is the time to revisit this and get it right.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Traffic

Make Adams and Jefferson two-way

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Back when downtown had lots of retail shopping and there were lots of people converging on downtown every day, it made sense to increase capacity along Adams and Jefferson streets by converting them to one-way.  But today, this configuration is unnecessary.  And with the I-74 redesign, this configuration makes even less sense.

It used to be that you could enter I-74 east or west from Adams.  This made sense because Adams was one way heading out of the central business district.  You could hop on Adams and zip down to the expressway.  However, the entrance ramp to 74 east was too short and, thus, dangerous.

So now the entrance ramp to 74 east is on Fayette between Jefferson and Adams.  So, if you’re leaving downtown, you now have to loop around to hit it.  If you’re going north on Adams, that means you have to go left on Bryan, left on Jefferson, left on Fayette, and voila! you’ve found the on-ramp.  Not very efficient traffic flow.

It’s just one more reason why we should change these streets to two-way.

At-large councilman Chuck Grayeb suggested that very thing back in October, but the idea was pooh-poohed by Public Works Director Steve Van Winkle.  But check out his reasoning:

Public works director Steve Van Winkle says a conversion could actually hurt one of the Heart of Peoria Plan’s principles of a “pedestrian” downtown. “There is a desire whenever possible to make streets narrower. You virtually give up that option if you go two-way. It’s much easier to narrow a one-way street because you usually have excess capacity.”

Sounds great, doesn’t it?  Sounds like he’s really bought in to the Heart of Peoria Plan principles, right?  One problem: the Heart of Peoria Plan actually recommends — specifically — converting Adams and Jefferson to two-way streets.  On page III.14, they have a whole project called “Conversion of One-Way Streets,” complete with discussion.  Here’s an exerpt:

According to the transportation consultant, the typical 60 foot wide street section in downtown Peoria is far too wide for one way traffic, given either the existing or the proposed travel demand. Traffic flow, at the levels indicated by the available data, is simply not a sufficient justification for continuing the one way pattern.
Recommendation: Reconfigure Jefferson and Adams Streets for two-way traffic, with on-street parking.

This makes me question whether Van Winkle has even read the Heart of Peoria Plan.  But, seriously, this isn’t a difficult decision that needs lots of justification from consultants and traffic experts.  Just go downtown sometime and tell me whether, based on your experience alone, you think it’s really necessary to have four lanes of one-way traffic, and whether the traffic flow to enter the interstate heading out of downtown makes sense to you.

It’s time to make Adams and Jefferson two-way.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Peoria Mayor

Despite Museum Square debacle, HOPC appears to be on front burner

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It’s no secret I’ve been disappointed with the Museum Square design and its complete lack of adherence to the Heart of Peoria Plan, which the city council adopted “in principle.” Nevertheless, I have been encouraged by Mayor Ardis’s “City Issues” articles for Interbusiness Issues the last couple of months.

In the January issue, Ardis mentioned his hope that the Heart of Peoria Commission (HOPC) would write and implement Peoria’s Form-Based Code. I went to a public meeting on this subject last October when Ferrell Madden Associates were in town. Form-Based Code is basically an alternative to our current zoning laws that allows for mixed use and puts tighter control on the form, or physical characteristics, of the built environment. The concept makes sense to me, but I can see why it would be a lot of work to actually write the parameters. Let’s just say I “appreciate the complexity of the task.”

This month, Ardis devoted the whole column to giving a complete overview of the HOPC. Granted, he didn’t write it alone, but at least he credited the new HOPC chairman, Bill Washkuhn, for “helping assemble this information.” Regardless of who did most of the writing, I think it’s significant that Ardis devoted the column to HOPC.

Jonathan Ahl predicted (during a year-in-review broadcast of “Outside the Horseshoe”) that the HOPC would be eliminated this year. I can understand why he might think that –they haven’t been terribly effective so far. But there has been quite a bit of turnover on the commission of late, several council members seem to be in favor of the HOP Plan, and Ardis appears to be pushing them to be on-task and productive. If the commission fails, it won’t be for lack of support from the city council.

City Council, Heart of Peoria Plan, Southtown

Council roundup: Southtown deal approved

The council did the right thing by not delaying the vote on the Southtown project any longer.  The motion to defer was overturned and the council voted 10-1 to approve the project.

I wasn’t too thrilled about delaying the vote at the request of Methodist or OSF, but I thought Gary Sandberg had some excellent points regarding the suburban design of the building and the proposed density of the development.  Whatever is built in Southtown should be required to conform to the Heart of Peoria Plan.  If there is no process to facilitate that requirement, the Heart of Peoria Commission and the City Council should develop one.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Museum Block

Museum Square — does it fulfill Peoria’s vision?

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This is an artist’s rendering of what the former Sears block (now “Museum Square”) could look like under the Heart of Peoria (HOP) Plan, which the council adopted “in principle.” As far as I know, that plan is still the vision for Peoria’s urban renewal. Since the Sears block is perhaps the most visible piece of property in the Heart of Peoria boundaries, the plan paid considerable attention to this development and recommended these principles:

First, it is important that each component of the redevelopment be designed with appropriate street frontage, since the site controls at least three crucial links to the riverfront.

Second, the site should incorporate a mix of uses that will bring activity to the area both day and night. For this reason, the inclusion of a residential component is particularly important. At opposite ends of the block, the scheme includes a hotel and a condominium, both of which would have dramatic views of the river and downtown Peoria.

Third, the scheme needs to repair the connection to the riverfront along Fulton Street, which currently comes to an undignified end on the west side of the Sears block. In the proposed scheme, the Fulton Street axis is continued as a pedestrian walkway through a central plaza. This scheme has several powerful advantages: it continues the view corridor from the downtown to the river; it re-establishes an attractive pedestrian route from the Civic Center to the riverfront entertainment district; it establishes a dramatic sequence of views for pedestrians as they pass through the museum plaza, potentially defining one of the most memorable and imageable locations on Peoria’s improved riverfront.

Now, let’s take a look at the site plan that was adopted by the council in November:

Sorry I couldn’t find a cleaner image than this one, but it’s good enough to serve our purpose. Anything here fit the Heart of Peoria Plan? Nope.

Let’s looks first at what the plan calls “appropriate street frontage.” Later in the plan document it says:

The street frontages of the buildings of the Sears Block must be active. Water Street should have the highest level of pedestrian activity; Main and Liberty should provide support in their pedestrian connection between the Downtown and Riverfront; and Washington Street should allow a proper location for service access while remaining pedestrian-friendly. Significant gaps in the street edge, low-laying structures, service uses and blank walls at the street edge all contribute to a hostile environment unsuitable for street life.

In contrast, the approved site plan has the main entrances off of Washington Street, and no entrance facing Water Street at all. There are “significant gaps in the street edge,” which is one of the things that contributes to “a hostile environment” for pedestrians. Test one, failed.

As for “a mix of uses that will bring activity both day and night,” that was left completely out. If downtown is going to thrive, it’s going to have to be active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is the single most damaging flaw in the design. The plan should have included residential and retail/restaurant components to keep the block hopping long after the museums close. As it is, at night this block will be no different than it is right now — dead.

Finally, it doesn’t “repair the connection to the riverfront along Fulton Street” the way the plan envisioned it. It continues to block one’s view of the river. However, it is a glass arcade, making it conceivable one would be able to see through it to the river, so perhaps this is partially fulfilled.

One of the later recommendations is to “[d]evelop a plan that makes optimal use of the whole block.” The approved site plan is very inefficient in that regard. In fact, the whole feel of the approved plan is a suburban one. This would look right at home at the corner of Lake and University, where Lakeview Museum sits now. But downtown, it looks out of place.

I can’t help but feel this is another opportunity lost. The so-called “crown jewel” of Peoria, Museum Square, will become yet another impediment to the broader vision of downtown revitalization. It will continue to make downtown a place to visit during the day, and retreat from at night.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan

Community Planning workshops open to public

The Heart of Peoria Commission wants to “educate and inform people of what form-based codes can do for a community.” Here’s part of an e-mail I received from the city’s Planning & Growth Management Department:

Attached is the invitation for the upcoming Form-based Code Workshops. The neighborhood groups are invited to the workshop scheduled for Wednesday, October 26, 2005, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Civic Center, Rooms 220-221. . . . Our intent and goal is to educate and inform people of what form-based codes can do for a community. In order to do that, we need to invite as many people as possible.

Please RSVP Gene Lear at 494-8604 or glear@ci.peoria.il.us.

The “invitation” spoken of was a PDF attachment you can see here.