Tag Archives: Golden Corral

City Council, City of Peoria, Signs

Van Auken misses “Golden” opportunity

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There I was Tuesday, beating the newspaper against my head after reading this:

The city’s Planning & Growth Management Department believes [Golden Corral’s] proposed sign is too big, much more so than what is allowed in the city ordinance. Proposals have the sign at 40-foot, 215-square-feet tall [sic]. The city requires 25-foot-tall, 70-square-foot signs for businesses such as Golden Corral […]

Russ Hruby of RJH Management Corp. said the company is willing to meet whatever restrictions are decided upon by the zoning commission or City Council. […]

[Second District City Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken says,] “We’re going to work with them and give them as close to the size as they want,” she said. “That area is a little unique in that way that there is a lot of big signs on University. While we like to get signs smaller, we have to be realistic. As new businesses locate there, they have big signs to compete with.”

Think about that for a minute and let it sink in:

Here’s a developer who is locating on University Street between War Memorial Drive and Forrest Hill — a stretch of road that is the epitome of poor urban design, and probably the most often-cited example of visual clutter in the City. Presumably, city officials would like to see the area improved and would jump at the opportunity to start scaling down the signs to bring them in line with the sign ordinance.

And it gets better! The developer says he’s “willing to meet whatever restrictions are decided upon by the zoning commission or City Council” — unlike Westlake Shopping Center which intimidated the City Council into giving it a big ordinance-busting sign by claiming its then-secret tenant (later revealed to be Fresh Market) would not locate there if they couldn’t have a humongous sign. No, this developer is very happy with the City, and doesn’t perceive the city as unfriendly to business. In fact, he’s quoted as saying, “It’s not an adversarial position at all…. Peoria has been (accommodating).”

What an opportunity! No threats, no intimidation. A new business on University street willing to abide by the code! Could this be the start of cleaning up University and reducing visual clutter? Could this business’s sign compliance be used as a shining, positive example for other businesses who locate there in the future?

Enter Barbara Van Auken, Second District Council Representative.

“We’re going to work with them and give them as close to the size as they want,” she said [emphasis mine]. What? Why in the world would you want to do that? “That area is a little unique in that way that there is a lot of big signs on University….” Hmmm, “unique” is one word for it; “ugly” is another. “Blighted” fits the bill, too.

“While we like to get signs smaller, we have to be realistic. As new businesses locate there, they have big signs to compete with.” I’m not sure whether this is doublespeak or just plain self-contradiction. If Councilwoman Van Auken really would “like to get signs smaller,” then she logically would not “give them as close to the size as they want,” which is three times the size allowed by ordinance and twice as big as the McDonald’s sign across the street, especially after the developer has already stated for the record that he’s “willing to meet whatever restrictions are decided.”

So the bottom line is that signs will continue to escalate in size along University, unless the rest of the council does the right thing and upholds the sign ordinance. The unwritten rule on the council is that you always vote for what the district council member wants for a project in his or her district. That’s a poor policy in general, and one that definitely should be disregarded in this case.

For those of you who like visuals, I drew this in Google Sketch-Up to show you a comparison of the maximum sign allowed by ordinance (on the left) versus the size of the sign requested by Golden Corral (on the right). These are to scale. Note also the size of an average human at the bottom:

General News

Berean Bookstore closing its doors for good

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A local Christian bookstore that has been serving Peoria for over 60 years has announced it will be closing its doors for good. Berean Bookstore in Evergreen Square next to Office Depot and Kroger sent this letter to those on their mailing list last week. It says, in part:

Dear Loyal Customer and Friend,

A HUGE STORE CLOSING SALE will begin immediately to LIQUIDATE EVERY SINGLE ITEM of merchandise in our store to include all Bibles, Books, Church Supplies, Children’s Books & Toys, Spanish Products, All Music, Gifts, Home Decor, Framed Art, Audio & Video, Greeting Cards, Educational Supplies, Demdaco Figurines, Candles, Seasonal Lines, T-Shirts and much more.

We are CLOSING OUR DOORS FOREVER. All of our merchandise, selected store fixtures, furniture, and equipment must be sold . . . .

After 63 years of serving the community this [invitation-only] sale is initiated only after careful consideration. It is our way of thanking you for your business and friendship while at the same time accomplishing our goals.

I remember when Berean was on Knoxville just south of McClure. The place was packed with product — records, tapes, bibles, books, curriculum, and sheet music. There wasn’t very much tacky Christian gift product back then. Since then, Berean has moved to Sheridan Village, and then to its current location in Evergreen Square. And with each successive move, their stock of books and music got smaller, and their selection of tacky Christian gift product got bigger.

You see, gift product has a big markup, whereas books and music don’t. So in order to stay profitable, the “bookstore” became more of a “gift store.” I would have thought they had it made after most other Christian bookstores in the area closed (All That Matters in the Metro Centre, Hidden Treasure in Washington, JC’s in Morton, Mustard Seed in Pekin). But I guess they just couldn’t compete with the huge stock, easy ordering, and quick shipping of internet bookshops such as Christian Book Distributors.

Berean also has bookstores Bloomington, Champaign, and Decatur. No word on whether they are closing as well, or if this only affects Peoria.

Meanwhile, two other area businesses are closing: Tilley’s in the River Station (which lasted just six months) and the Golden Corral in Washington (which left its employees high and dry, closing without notice or explanation).