Tag Archives: Heartland Partnership

Temporary is a long time in Peoria

Since April 9, 2008, the Heartland Partnership has been conducting business in the former Damon’s restaurant at Riverfront Village with only a “temporary” Certificate of Occupancy. Councilman Gary Sandberg was tipped off that the building may be occupied without a Certificate, so he sent a FOIA inquiry to the Inspections department and discovered there was no Certificate on file.

Heartland Partnership is the employer of Councilman Ryan Spain, so I contacted him about it. He did some research and informed me via e-mail that “[t]he City has located a temporary certificate of occupancy dated April 9, 2008. Evidently, the employee that conducted the inspection has retired and there is incomplete information in the file.” Later, he added that “the final certificate of occupancy was awaiting signature from the fire department. The contractor and tenant requested a final inspection, which lead to the temporary certificate of occupancy on April 9, 2008. The inspections department coordinates this final step with the fire inspector.”

Inspections Director John Kunski said he couldn’t piece together exactly what happened because it was too long ago. It could be that the building inspector (now retired) didn’t notify the fire department, or that the fire department was notified but an inspection was never conducted for some reason. No one really knows (or will admit) who dropped the ball. Kunski says his department is the “gatekeeper” of the certificate-issuing process, but each department (e.g., fire department, planning/zoning department) is responsible for conducting its own inspection. If a department doesn’t follow through, Inspections “[doesn’t] have a system to flag it.”

The practice of issuing temporary Certificates of Occupancy was instituted under former City Manager Michael McKnight as a way to make the City more “business-friendly,” according to Kunski. But he said that it’s difficult to get compliance once a building is occupied. He would like to see the City require a deposit — $500, for example — that would be put in escrow and refunded once the permanent Certificate of Occupancy is issued.

According to the City of Peoria’s website, “a temporary or partial Certificate of Occupancy good for period up to eight (8) months for any building or structure” may be issued under certain conditions. However, the City Code, section 5-77, doesn’t specify a time-frame; it only says, “Upon written request, the code official may issue a temporary certificate of occupancy for the use of any building or structure prior to the completion and occupancy of the entire building or structure, provided that such portion or portions shall be occupied safely prior to full completion of the structure without endangering life or public welfare.” Kunski was also unaware of there being any time limit set for a temporary Certificate of Occupancy.

Kunski said that there were “no life/safety issues” at the Heartland Partnership building, or else a temporary Certificate would not have been issued.

Heartland Partnership rolls out new survey

The Heartland Partnership is conducting a survey of what people think of the tri-county area. However, they only want to know what things you like about the region, not what you don’t like. So the purpose of the survey appears to be an effort to get some good marketing quotes and some statistics on what area residents like best the region. It’s only 10 questions, so it doesn’t take long to complete. Here’s the info:

The Peoria metropolitan area; including Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford Counties; would like your help gathering information to better market our region.

Log on to www.peoriametrosurvey.com and take a few moments to complete our brief survey. Tell us what you think about living in the Peoria metro area. You can also register to win a prize package. This brief survey has only 10 questions and should take less than 5 minutes to complete. We look forward to hearing from you!

Help us take the pulse of the Peoria Area and be sure to pass the survey on to your friends and contacts!

Infrastructure projects list released

From a press release:

Peoria, IL – (January 15, 2009) The Heartland Partnership and the Tri County Regional Planning Commission have been gathering a list of regional infrastructure projects that could benefit from President-elect Obama’s proposed infrastructure stimulus recovery project. The goal is to have a list of potential projects ready when the new administration gives the go ahead for the stimulus package.

The Heartland Partnership President and CE Jim McConoughey said this group has been working to gather this list since early December. “This is an evolving project. As we compile our list, Washington DC is compiling the criteria. This list enables us to have the necessary information at our fingertips when it’s needed.”

The group released details on that list today at the Heartland Partnership Office. Over two hundred projects were submitted from 41 municipalities in eight counties including Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Mason, Logan, Fulton, Marshall and Stark. The list includes development, road, water, sewer, schools, and community projects.

McConoughey said the anticipated federal stimulus package is approximately $800 billion and as the President and Congress unfold the various components of the plan, it will be important for our communities to decide what we consider success. This stimulus package is about creating jobs in our communities and across the nation, McConoughey said. “So if any project on this list receives funding it will mean jobs in our community. And when people have jobs, they shop in local stores, they buy or rent homes, and they pay taxes and contribute to the overall welfare of the community in a variety of ways. So any project on this list that receives funding is a success for the larger community.”

The next step is to get this list to our lawmakers. McConoughey will be traveling to Washington DC and Springfield to deliver the list to the Illinois delegation in the coming weeks. He went on to say that the work is not over, “We will continue to monitor the rules and keep an eye on any changes that may affect projects in our region. If invited to submit more detailed information on this list, we will do so. And if local project leaders need assistance we will help them find it.”

Here’s the list in PDF format.

Some of these projects are real head-scratchers — for instance, the “Riverfront Village Stairway Replacement” project. Did some catastrophe happen to the stairs that I missed? Or were they just poorly constructed in the first place? I’m trying to figure out why they need to be replaced already when that development is only (roughly) 10 years old.

And then there’s this one: “Peoria Academy School 27,000 sq ft addition.” I thought these were supposed to be public projects. Peoria Academy is “an independent, private, non-profit school,” according to their own website. Are we now handing out public money to private schools? St. Mark’s is ready to build a new school — I’ll bet they would welcome some of that stimulus money, too.

One more thing: “Riverfront Museum Parking deck construction.” This isn’t significant in and of itself. What’s more significant is the “start date” listed: February 1, 2009. That’s almost three months before the sales tax referendum. They wouldn’t start construction before they knew if they had enough funds to finish the project, would they? That would be most unwise.