Next Tuesday the City Council will meet. The agenda is online here. Notable items of discussion:
- There’s a request to give Enterprise Zone status to all of Metro Centre, Sheridan Village, and Evergreen Square shopping centers. Big plans are in the works for all three, and the city wants to provide incentives. Metro Centre’s plans are fleshed out the most in the request — they’re planning to spend one- to three-million dollars on renovations and a mixed-use retail/residential development that will overlook the Lakeview nature preserve.
- The Kellar Branch rail/trail feasibility study comes up for approval. This is specifically a request to hire T. Y. Lin International, an engineering firm, for a flat rate of $20,000 to give an independent analysis as to how much it would cost to build a trail next to the Kellar Branch rail line. Peoria Heights would pay $5,000 toward the cost, and the City of Peoria would pick up the remaining $15,000.
- The request for a liquor license for Elliott’s strip club comes up for a vote again. It had been deferred while the City and club owners worked with a mediator. I have no idea if they reached a resolution or if this item will be deferred again.
Also of note, I believe this will be Jonathan Ahl’s last time covering the Peoria City Council and hosting “Outside the Horseshoe.” I hope he’s planning to have a “goodbye” episode that will feature his favorite interviews and clips over the past several years. I also hope he leaves the longest pause ever between “WCBU” and “Peoria” when he signs off.
The description of the enterprise zone for Sheridan Village and Metro says area is bordered by Lake/University/Glen/Sheridan. Sheridan Village seems to be outside this zone.
And how much of Peoria is already in an Enterprise Zone or a TIF? When does it ever end????
What we’ll do is kidnap him.
Yes, it will be my last Outside the Horseshoe, and no, I’m not planning a goodbye episode. That seems a little self-serving.
But bring your stopwatch for how long the pause between WCBU and Peoria will be. I’m going for the record.
I wonder how many other things get misspelled? The Kellar Rail/Trail Feasibility Study. Half way through they spell it Keller and then go back to spelling it Kellar, which is correct. Get it together.
this is good news regarding those three shopping areas. Anything we can do to encourage redevelopment in the central part of town. In the end it will cost the city a lot less to help these guys out than to keep putting new business’s out north in corn fields.