Peoria unanimously advances $15–25M Riverfront Redevelopment Plan to Planning & Zoning Commission

everyone please take your seats we're going to get started yes machine everyone can please take their seats we're going to get started okay good evening everyone it's about 603 p.m on Tuesday July 25th 2023. I like to call the meeting of the Peoria city council to order I also like to welcome everyone that's here in our city council chambers as well as our listening audience at wcbu I'd also like to welcome the audience watching on cap excuse me cable channel 22.

Madam clerk the council mics are open please call the roll mayor Ali present councilmember Alan council member seer council member Gordon Young council member Graham council member Jackson here council member Kelly here council member Euler council member rickenback here council member valpulla president and council member Vespa here you have a quorum present Madame mayor great thank you everyone please join me and stand for a moment of Silent prayer or silent reflection followed by the Pledge of Allegiance Madam Clerk we are at the minutes councilmember regenbach thank you madam mayor I move to approve the minutes of The Joint City Council Town board meeting held on July 11 2023 is printed is there a second Day by council member Kelly any comments questions please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk we are at the consent agenda 23-264 is a communication with a request to approve and authorize the execution of a contract with Resource Management Associates in the amount of 100 825 dollars to administer the police sergeant and police Lieutenant promotional examinations 23-265 is a communication with request to approve a first addendum to the intergovernmental agreement between the city of Peoria and the Dunlap Community Unified School District regarding the Medina Plains Allen Road Business Park Tax increment financing District 23-253 is a communication from the city manager and Corporation Council with a request to adopt an ordinance amending the rules of the city council 23-254 is a communication with request to adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 3 of the municipal code of the city of Peoria to add language to withdraw a site approval application for liquor establishments before city council consideration 23-255 is a communication with a request to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development code of the city of Peoria to add language to withdraw an application for a zoning change before city council consideration 23-266 is a communication with a request to approve the site application for a class A Tavern liquor license with a subclass 1 4 am closing hours with on-site consumption and retail sale of alcohol for the new Peoria puff Inc doing business as the neon bison at 617 Main Street contingent upon the issuance of all appropriate permits and certificate of occupancy with a recommendation from The Liquor Commission to approve 23-267 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the cdbg public service advisory commission with a request to concur of Jalissa Brown 23-268 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the downtown advisory commission with a request to concur of Kate Kinney 23-269 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the sister city commission with a request to concur of Karen Smith 23-270 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the Planning and Zoning commission with a request to concur of Theresa kaler 23-271 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the advisory committee on police community relations with a request to concur of Omar Malcolm 23-272 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the Springdale Cemetery Management Authority with a request to concur of Therese Brink 23-273 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the public Arts advisory commission with request to concur of Demarcus Hamilton 23-274 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the Fair Employment Commission with a request to concur of anupama udavalu 23-275 is an appointment by mayor Ali to the Peoria Public Library Board of Trustees with a request to concur of Stephen marks and that concludes our consent agenda are there any items to remove from consent may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda move by council member Allen seconded by council member Gordon young any comments questions please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk we have one presentation tonight and that's 23-276 a communication from the city manager and director of public works with a request to receive and file a presentation by Terra engineering regarding the riverfront plan manager thank you madam mayor this evening we have with us George greeb and Kevin Graham from Terra engineering who are going to walk through the proposed Riverfront Redevelopment plan this has been many years in the making that they'll be talking about after that after the presentation we'll have some time for question and answer and the questions can be directed at the Terra team or director powers or myself so we're looking forward to the presentation this evening and I'm going to turn it right over to our team to let them walk through everything with you welcome I've been waiting yes is going okay well thank you thank you thank you I'm so excited to be here and thank you for taking the time to allow us to present to you our vision for the Peoria Riverfront this has been in the making since uh 2017 and uh so relax but be attentive and we're gonna go on a walk all of us here at the riverfront we're going to show you what have we done in the past five years and we'll take some questions at the end I want to start the presentation by giving you a little bit of a brief background the project limits as it currently stands is from bridge to bridge some people might say why is it bridge to bridge primarily because that's whereas the existing Riverfront location Park Park location so how did we start and where did we come up with at this stage in 2017 we all remember the Water Street Riverfront Village there was in a little bit of a structurally bad shape uh the city made the decision to uh demolish the building that stage we had a couple of public involvement meetings through that we developed what what technically you see on the on the on the presentation slide there a small small location of where possibly we isolated that parcel by itself developed a small Park that was back in 2018 however the the city staff which I really commend for for their vision said why don't we take that a little bit more and stretch out the limits of the park going a little bit from one side of the bridge to another primarily because some of the public involvement comments that we received requested why don't we have a uh a Fountain why don't we have a climbing wall some of the other amnities that you can have in a park so the city staff made the decision to go ahead and expand the location of the Riverfront Park throughout this process from 2017 till now we roughly had about I would say 20 plus public involvement meetings started out by developing a Citizens advisor Group which we met at the Museum met at Gateway building several times actual uh members of the citizens advisory groups were the people who actually developed the vision that you see now at the riverfront we've had many meetings we've met with council members we've met with throughout the whole process up till today actually today this past the last few hours of today we met with some members of the riverfront market and we made some adjustments to the to what you will see today actually too so you can so we can accommodate the riverfront market and the future of the riverfront Market I'm going to introduce Kevin who's our chief landscape architect and he's going to walk us through some of the details and I'll come back and walk you through some of the parking requirements and so forth as George said my name is Kevin Graham I'm the senior landscape architect for in planner for Terra throughout the project and throughout this process we have always held to the one tenant in this project that this needs to be a resilient Park but how do we Define what a resilient Park is that's land it's the water it's the habitat materials social economic all these components but it's also really hyper focused on the flooding we know the park floods and what we need to design is a park that is resilient in how it bounces back how efficient how easy it is for the staff to bring this back online so that is part of this plan as we go through so why don't we did through all those marriage of public involvement that you that George talked about we held a lot of a lot of commonalities through the plan is how do we connect some of the Civic spaces the museum the visitors centers the Civic Center how do we connect that into this park that we now just took down a Riverfront Village and we can see the river we can see the water how do we incorporate play and family art and reflection and cultural activities in the forever front still housing our our festivals and the entertainment opportunities and then how do we embody that and bring back more active spaces and that's kind of what led to this concept plan of move play interact reflect and festivals more granular looking at the plan kind of starting down from the the we'll call it the South End Bob Michael bridge in the more active end of this with features like a active play and and I'll go into more detailed and and zoomed in on all these uh but more active play in that area you'll see the center area um is focused more on the Great Lawn and flexibility in that space event space embodying the farmer's market space we know that's a great activity along the riverfront and we only wanted to see it become better and more so how do we act reactivate the Gateway building and that space from its fountain that space to activity and group Gatherings and then how do we work with the festival area and a lot of these came through these ideas came through interactions and meetings with key stakeholders the park district many business owners as well as the general public giving us input as to what would engage them into a Riverfront Park looking at a lot of Precedence what has worked in other locations what hasn't what has been that Catalyst what are the lessons learned that we can pull from that so with that that generates this plan what and I'm not going to spend a lot of time going through this detailed part but generally what you're going to see in this I'm going to go into each area more specific but from dog parks to kayak launches to the barge Park we'll spend a little bit of time talking about the farmers market event space Great Lawn and interactive areas and festivals so to drill down into that a little bit more I'm going to kind of start in the center area of the park which is kind of that Great Lawn that is kind of where we're starting to Center I'm going to work out both ways to this area I think is is the word flexibility and what we've done in this area is expanded the parking and I wish I had a pointer but uh the the parking that is currently there up along Water Street between Main Street and the entrance To Where the River Station would be we've extended a bay of parking there but then we've extended an additional paved area um Plaza pedestrian space that is flexible and what we're I'll show some more details of this but the idea is to have that um harking back to the history of railroads in downtown Peoria and along the river the at working River so we're utilizing what we're calling for in that Plaza is utilizing rails and picnic tables and planters that are on Rails that can be moved out of the way and opened up for larger events the farmers market other events seasonal events a winter festival all types of different opportunities that opens up then on to the uh more we're calling it The Great Lawn or more open lawn view we've opened this Riverfront up from the riverfront Village we don't want to close it off and then one of the things we heard all the way through is getting people connected back to the water to the river and not turning our back on the Illinois River anymore so this Central Area now essentially from the current uh Marina docks to the area of that was the the former spirit and hopefully the new uh boat that will be there someday uh space stepping that down I'll show you details of that the entrance off of Main Street is key and becomes a key Central drop-off area wayfinding area as a Terminus to Main Street and as Main Street is looked at in a renovation going forward this is that key step in that starting of that and a nice memorial piece of that looking at some of the key details of this um when I said we're kind of looking at kind of how that steps down to the water and bringing a little closer to what normal water level is again designed to flood but having this accessible route having different stepping configurations these are very popular for people to Lounge on to sit have lunch have that inner connection and connection back to the river obviously with a a safety Rail and of that also when I talked about the expanded area of the farmer the event space the the parking lot in this view it is showing with cars parked in that that upper parking Zone and then the other area below that as being a pedestrian Plaza space this shows it with the Planters the benches in their normal position and then they again they're on Rails they can be easily moved out of the way and then Market Festival a seasonal event in the winter would be a great feature space for this this kind of shows just kind of in a quick click how all that operates um things just they will be able to be slid out of the out of the way to open that up and the key is you know this Plaza is that space is be curbless so easily transferable across the two surfaces another feature of this Central Great Lawn is bringing back the swing and a permanent swings that are uh lit are they're safe gives a that kind of that front porch that front lawn aspect to the river I talked about the determinants of of Main Street and bringing back uh how do we reinvigorate that it still needs to function as a drop off space for the part for events future boat I what we have identified is uh the five memorials that are along the river down on the uh I guess the north side of the we'll call it of the Murray Baker Bridge bringing those up to a more prominent focal point and a new more decorative small fountain feature in this drop-off Zone just another view of that then as we transition over to the near the Gateway building this area we have focused on Art and sound in the area of around the Riverside of the the Gateway building one of the key features is a a is working with local artists in this and then and it's an art Park and then an interactive fountain in front of the Gateway building that it can either be an interactive art added to with lighting and and at night as well as it can be turned off and be you know expanded uh space for setting up events what does that look like again we envision and and the we're not suggesting this is the art that goes in this this park we would like to work with local artists to curate what those pieces are this should have the culture the history of Peoria embedded into it and it should have local artists doing those pieces Everyone likes the Instagram photo and having um you know a piece of art that is commemorated to be in Peoria I'm not saying it's necessarily the word Peoria could be uh but having that as that key focal point I think is pretty dramatic and then having the interactive uh jets that can come up be lit at night as part of the the feature of the Terminus of this part when we talked to the festival grounds there were a couple key elements that came out as we talked with the park district and other entertainment management people is we need better infrastructure there so what we've identified in the the master plan or the development plan is is really expanding the infrastructure electric water in that area how do we build this back so that after the these large events the turf can be reinvigorated quicker so how the planting specifications for that and again that's the resiliency of a part it's not just when it floods it's when we activate and when we use it and how do we get that back online as quick as possible there are two options for for the the the entertainment aspects here the park district has already kind of brought in an area where they can set up these stages the temporary portable the concert stages but then we see another area down along the river for the ban for a Band Shell that becomes an artistic piece on its own but serves those evenings so if you're out there on a Tuesday evening well you won't be on our Tuesdays because you'll be here at this meeting but on a evening meeting where it's a family event smaller entertainment events on the lawn and then another view kind of what that could look like going back towards the Murray Baker Bridge looking further again down towards the Bob Michael Bridge we identified this as that active young adult more active and and with features that kind of build off of we heard a lot of the folks from the the warehouse district and different groups but how do we activate the that in with the park is you know with with different features like an outdoor Fitness stations outdoor Fitness Park not just different stations broken around flexible courts and volleyball those type of uses not over built with with courts but pulling back some of that parking and then opening that up and then opening up some of that lawn for a dog park and kayak launch but I think one of the key features here on this end is we always struggled with the park could get to kind of these buildings in this these three buildings you have Ameron and then you have the two other uh private buildings and how do we get around that and one of the the ideas that came to you know kept growing was after the the representative had his event out on there on the barge is potentially looking at stacking two barges and creating a barge part this has been done in other cities uh and very successfully and essentially you're floating a barge so it it moves with the water but you're treating it like a green roof and planting so this allows us to get that connection and really make a full connection of the entire Riverfront from end to end and not be bifurcated or stop short and what you know playground features and what that part might look like going across and walking across it as a pathway sitting area lighting shade uh on the on that connection the fit outdoor Fitness a bigger Trend that we're finding far more successful than you know putting an exercise feature along a path every so often is having these Fitness areas groups will show will go out there and work out together they're a guided with this we actually talked to a group that has a grant available to to be a participant in this this type of idea and then what it might look like from from opening up what was a very industrial Corridor and hardened area to Peoria's new front door its new entrance into the city with that I'm going to let George jump back in to talk about a couple infrastructure thanks Governor part of part of what was the challenge is to come up with some money for the flood protection everybody talks about flood protection along the riverfront mainly along the river station building and along where the existing wave attenuator that was used to protect the existing Spirit of Peoria we worked really diligently with Aima and FEMA the last year and we were very successful to get a grant for almost three hundred thousand dollars to start the design process the actual construction of both of those uh the removable flood wall and I'll show you how it some of the details of it and the wave attenuator the actual cost of construction will be around 3 million but the design portion of the money that we were able to get will get us will get our foot in the door so we can apply eventually for a brick grant that covers the construction the engineer part of me always likes to show some drawings so this is what will look like the wave attenuator that will sit on piles but it will act not only as a wave attenuator to protect the future boat but also will act as a observation deck so people can actually come a little bit more closer to the wall the flood protection this is what's been done in Davenport we're using something of similar nature this is a portable or you normally we know when the flood comes in so we can erect the posts and put the blank walls in between and off we go and whenever the flood recedes then we can come back and do that again um there's been a lot of discussion about uh parking in downtown Peoria a lot of discussion and I'm sure a lot of you have been feeding calls about parking in downtown Peoria we actually took the center portion of the riverfront park and made an inventory of all the parking around the riverfront area within five minutes walking distance from the center of the riverfront park we have over 3 000 parking spots downtown over three thousand so let's take that and focus a little bit more on where the front front where the riverfront is from Water Street down to the riverfront and we broke it down by zones we actually took zones there and we a total of existing parking spots of 549 the new proposed is 559 so we actually gained 10 more parking spots on the riverfront so um now take it for granted that some of these parkings have been reassigned to complement the New Uses of the park so it's not going to be exactly where it was but we didn't lose a lot of parking and we extended the parking both to the North and the South especially to the north where the Michaels Bridges with the with the foreseeable future that hopefully we can get in the Gateway building a rail station we've expanded the parking there to take that into consideration as well to to accommodate the Riverfront Park the riverfront market downtown Peoria which is a great venue uh 5 000 people or so come every Saturday uh not only we we went there and watched the riverfront Market operation on his on several Sundays we actually put cameras and where you see those red red green dots those are locations of cameras that we actually videotaped the location for seven days and we made an inventory of all the vehicles coming in and coming out of the parking at all these locations and at all the parking locations there and at no one point in time the actual the highest peak of parking was at 2 am in front of kellehers we all know where that is which doesn't even come close to the proposed future parking we have so we are actually exceeding the parking spots that we have capacity for now all of the spark is great and wonderful uh it's going to require Safety and Security that's where our police comes into play in addition from our perspective we are going to use permanent lighting we're going to use cameras and security cameras there's been a lot of studies that's been done that you know people people question why do I want to go downtown now to the riverfront there's nothing there and it could be dangerous well when you change the atmosphere and change the Dynamics there's been a lot of studies that complement this fact that changing that Dynamics changing the momentum will make the area even sort of self-policing and make it a little bit more safer more safer so to close this off we were from day one took into resiliency into the into play we gained about 18 and a half acres of Green Space four miles of walkways roughly don't quote us on this roughly over 900 trees and green infrastructure all throughout that I want to close and before I close I want to thank you all for listening to us and for giving us the opportunity to work on this project this project will really transform downtown Peoria for generations and generations and generations to come and I really thank you madam mayor honorable Madam mayor esteemed Council for the opportunity to uh get us involved with this project and we'll take some questions thank you Mr garib and thank you Mr Graham a lot of extensive work and time and effort has been put into this is very impressive and I'm sure we'll have some questions I just wanted um uh Mr manager if you would just verify that all the land that's in this plan is owned by the city of Peoria thank you mayor yes all the land is owned by the city other there there are the three buildings the Edgewater building the Ameren building and then the uh what used to be the Crooked Waters building I'm showing my age with that one in town those three buildings are privately owned everything else is all part of of the city is acquired so that's it's a city-owned property we uh as you know there we can see that we have representatives from the park district that are here in the audience this evening we contract with the park district to maintain and program the space along the riverfront so they're our partner in this effort and you know obviously any additional maintenance responsibilities or programming responsibilities we'll be partnering with them to do that okay great and Mr garib if you could speak to um well the total cost of this proposed project and knowing that we may not have all the money at first at one time how do you phase it in based upon getting say an initial 20 25 000 or 15 000.

how do you phase this in where where do we start thank you that's a great question so part of the construction costs of this we don't have an actual construction cost so the cost averages right now between 15 to 25 million so it's a big range and part of the reason is we are at thirty thousand foot high when we come closer we could tweak the design a little bit more whether depending on how much money we have the money is available from you know the city got uh dco money for 15 million it's interesting to know that we started making rounds of presentations for you know Community stakeholders and already we've been outreached by or reached out by several members of the community to participate in this so that once you implement start implementation of this I'm sure we will get a lot more people involved so there's an opportunity for private public development we've we've been approached for people that want to help with the fountain on main street we've been approached by people that want to help with the shell on uh for the uh entertainment we've been approached by people that wanted to help with the lighting and the big jets so there's a lot of opportunities for this now if we get all the money before we start we'll we'll probably build it all together but of course we are not never at one point we're going to say hey we're going to close Water Street down everything is shutting off and then we're going to start building a park we will face that into construction depending on on how much money we have okay and then in terms of the flood protection or the flood wall you receive the grant for three hundred thousand dollars from FEMA but it's not enough it's a great start right but what will it take to build that flood well it's a great start the flood money we got is only for the design which we were good and lucky at some portions because that puts our foot in the door so now FEMA is sort of on the hook they gave us a little bit money to design it the actual construction cost for the wave attenuator which is up to the north side is roughly around 700 000.

the cost for the river for around the flood wall around the river station is about two and a half million dollars so we're hoping once we get the design on board we can get uh we are going to apply again for the brick money from FEMA so hopefully that will help us get some more money in excellent thank you council member Euler thank you madam chairwoman a couple questions first of all during the discussion about early on in the presentation about the the design of the park the mention was made about ensuring that there's a park that can easily recover when there is flooding can you tell us the difference between what will be accomplished with the flood wall and what won't be accomplished with the flood wall that that we would need to have some quick recovery from what does that picture look like I'll address the flood wall and I'll have Kevin talk about the resiliency of the actual Park so the flood wall covers most of the area around the river station so you know back in the days we all know the river station used to flood and we put the sandbags right now the the wall that we are proposing that we hopefully get money for will protect all the area around the river station so eliminate that flooding we also have the the break water so that sort of protects the old Spirit of Peoria or the the New River board that comes in from flooding as well but as far as resiliency I'm going to let Kevin talk a little bit more about yeah um so a lot of it's it's picking up the right materials and and design of certain ways when we design a a fountain for example having the forethought and the ahead that we can cap Jets a certain way and lock them in so we know the water flood water is going to come up let it come up but then we can power wash and clean it off easier having electronic boards that are Plug and Play that we can remove so they're not underwater so it's those are some of the more technical Parts but a lot of it too is thinking about you know what we do with the plantings and how we maintain them what types and how we group things like that so that we're not replacing mulch you know as soon as it washes away that the turf is drained right in his slope right that it will drain away Pro in in due time and be recoverable surfaces again that are designed to be able to be cleaned easier than we know it's going to come up we're not going to stop it but how do we you know not create additional work for us for the public works you know down the road so a lot of this is really you know thinking it out um there are some other Big River cities that have taken this Challenge and so we've been gone and visited them talked to them lessons learned from them don't do this do this instead so we want to employ a lot of those Lessons Learned here in Peoria on the um topic of the Landscaping as a whole I would say that we have not always done the most effective job maintaining the riverfront and that's some of the criticism that we get do we have some kind of an ongoing maintenance concept of what that's going to cost because obviously there's going to be some additional expense when you talk about moving parts and more activities and things that are happening there and and I know that we're going to partner with the the park district to accommodate that but obviously there's there's going to be a cost somewhere and I would expect that if we're going to get into something like this we have some idea of what that looks like and are planning for that as well absolutely and throughout this process one of the things we've worked with director powers and his Department with the city is developing an operations and maintenance budget through the whole project so when we make a choice do we put this type of Paving or this type of Paving this is my kind of landscape or this kind of landscaping what is it going to take to maintain that on a normal basis and then in a recovery basis so it's a very long spreadsheet and a lot of these things are things that are done on a daily basis on an annual basis routine and and it's expanding on that or augmenting that what we see happening in a lot of examples a lot of communities is there are other partners you know we've talked about the park district there's opportunities for creating a friends of or foundations that help augment some of that but throughout this process and going forward into you know detailed design that operational budget needs to be on the table every review meeting and every step of the way to have that conversation actually I think Kevin nailed it is the bottom line is we come for you every budget year and ask for o m dollars relative to the riverfront park in its present State what we have conceptually now meaning standard day-to-day o m would be approximately a hundred thousand more which is where about 250 000 now per annum working in partnership with Parks we would estimate that would increase about 100 000 current programming but you see conceptually again I know that's low when you think out here because some again when you start replacing that type of Maintenance it will likely increase exponentially obviously but also to Kevin's point this is going to be a more robust park that has the ability to create events that are going to offset some of what we need to perform maintenance in the park so we'll be looking for all those things but to answer your question directly counselor I'll be here along with the city manager asking for Budget to budget for operations and maintenance for the part and everything that we install as we go forward anything that we install we will bring the O M budget with it so that'll be a part of that planning and installation process and and I guess as part of that and some of the other things we've talked about obviously this is a 30 000 foot View and there'll be a lot more details in the future and even you know with some of the conversations we had prior to the meeting things are still changing I just want to ensure that there will be at some point a final vote before we start to move forward with a plan that says this is the plan this is the cost this is the maintenance you know the the more specifics than the 30 000 foot view I just I I don't want to say you know receive and file we're good to go tonight knowing that there's a lot of moving pieces in the coming months or years and and have that seen as a sign of final approval I want to make sure that there is actually a final approval what we anticipate is that this goes to the Planning and Zoning commission next week they'll take this up I think it's August 3rd and then this would come back to you for approval of the conceptual design on August 8th then as we start to move into that detailed design work that's when we'll have more meetings and more discussion about how we hone that out start to put you know structure what would be final uh packages that would go out to bid come back to you with the the maintenance plans and that would be the approvals that the council would make at that point in time in the final design that's absolutely and actually George just made a good point too Mr manager that we would have public involvement your involvement on each step in this and again being 30 000 feet I would put this to a long-range plan that as we start to put some brick and mortar to really thought around this we would come back to you kind of to the mayor's point of the scope and as we bring this in and how we stage it in those would come back to you for individual votes and funding and so on so that's how we see this evolving because against to the point earlier that the mayor made some of this is easy we can put in sand volleyball courts pretty quickly those Fitness areas we can pop them in now because there's Green Space and they can easily go in place we still would come back to you and say do you approve this funding for this amount this would be the funding source and within the concept of again what I think we're considering somewhat of a long-range plan for the park okay thank you good questions thank you councilman Euler councilmember Allen uh thank you madam mayor I just want to say thank you for the presentation this evening and the amount of work that you all put into uh this plan uh the renderings the different stakeholder groups and meetings that you've held over the last five years and all those two have participated in this a lot of time and effort has gone into this I know we're at the 30 000 foot view right now but I'm very excited that we are looking at our Riverfront because we know that it is a crown jewel of central Illinois and it can be a place of destination a preferred place of destination as well too so thank you all so much I know we are a Silhouettes for making final decisions but we're heading in the right direction thank you thank you madam mayor yes thank you councilmember regenbach thank you madam mayor and I want to Echo up both of my colleagues have said so far this is exciting this is a new page for Peoria and I think we're all anxious to to um help move this along forward just a little bit of follow-up to the flood related questions that councilman Euler had looking at the map the floating breakwaters and and the portion around the river station we understand so it's basically the Great Lawn area that will be suspect to to flooding is if if I'm looking at that right because that that's basically the part now I believe it's south of the Gateway building south of the Gateway building and before and to the river station so it's that Great Lawn area that will be built more resilient if I'm using the right terminology yeah the Great Lawn area along with what we refer to now as the plaza the new plaza where you saw let me go back here one second thank you with the tracks the tracks are in most of the material right here so most of this will be a more resilient material that will accommodate flooding all right thank you and and again I think we're all thrilled and when when that old um Riverfront Village came down everybody was anxious to get something in place while I'm just so glad that we've been deliberate about this and that we're not just putting a little Square Park in there but this is going to be a an entire front yard as you said so thanks for the efforts and thanks for listening and I'm sure there'll be more listening to be done moving forward thank you madam mayor thank you councilman just just to clarify the point on resiliency counselor I think you were asking about the resiliency meaning full-blown flood protection right around so yes that Great Lawn and River Station would be more accustomed to what we're seeing now that we'd previously sandbagged meaning fully protecting the building or as much as we can with the flood wall and then pumps running again as much as we can hold back the river that would be the protection resiliency is what Kevin was talking about the remainder of the park resiliency will be built into the fountain for instance in that area where we can cap Jets and protect it from the flood waters knowing it's going to flood over them the type of plantings the plant materials that are not susceptible to dying through being under water say for a week that's the resiliency side of the park the ability and materials we use for sidewalks and how easily they're cleaned power washed things like that that's what we're referring to when we say resiliency it's the remainder of the park outside of actual flood protection yes thank you for that because I think it's important that folks understand that there still will be flooding in that area that that's not going to go away that we're protecting the the building and protecting the the future docking area but there will be flooding I mean we're on the riverfront so let's not let's make it clear that the expectations of the public understand that and that that's being accounted for in the plan so thank you for that additional clarification council member Graham actually I think the impetus of this plan probably began under director Rogers back in 13 when he inspired all of us with the Riverwalk that he uh engage with when he was in San Antonio Texas but we should not be at 30 000 feet anymore folks we just shouldn't we should be ready to land the plane I understand the vagaries of not knowing precisely how much money we're going to have and when we say anywhere between 16 million and 25 million that gives me indigestion nevertheless we should have some good idea by now with all the engagement we've had with our stakeholders what we want to see and as the money comes in and ensure that all the elements are included but let me get practical now manager on the security aspect for this park I think councilman Euler may have touched a little bit on day-to-day operations maintenance Etc how's the security going to work well I think as as Mr Green mentioned you know we're trying to build in some additional lighting within the space to make it um more lit up in the evenings and so that it was it's safer from that aspect but but Ultimate Security is still going to be the responsibility of our Police Department as well as you know when we have events um the park district does contract with our Police Department to to be there as uh off-duty special Duty details that they'll do and we'll continue those types of activities as it goes forward so it's going to be a combination of the Park District police and our city police correct for events when we have events and activities the rest of the time it's it's our Police Department's responsibility to to supervise please do prominent at that point um I think it's a Visionary plan I think it's fantastic I think it's going to move our city forward and I think it's something that capitalizes on on an asset that we've had for decades in our downtown as more and more people are living downtown that's called the beautiful Illinois River we are not a corn-filled city we are a great City by A Great River and we have not capitalized on that this plan will actually do that and so I would just say as the weeks and months go past and certainly is August eight approaches quickly we want to get that plane down to where it's close to a landing understanding that we don't quite know how much money we're going to have yet which is I believe a lot of it's going to flow through dceo and I know our mayor's working on that thank you mayor you're welcome for Jackson thank you madam mayor well I I would just like to commend the group for uh their diligence and and their hard work and I'm excited about the opportunity to have a beautiful Riverfront once again and I think as was mentioned during your presentation we anticipate that some at some point we'll have another beautiful boat to uh to dock there and to to make use of again so I think um as my colleague council member grape has said uh we are the River City and uh I believe the river is our one of our best assets and so I would just like to commend you on your hard work and please let us know what we can do to support you and I think mayor mayor has talked a lot about the smart streets uh concept you talked about lighting a project of this magnitude would also benefit well from cameras uh you know we we can't police and uh you know security guard our way uh 24 hours a day so a project of this magnitude I believe would benefit very well from the technology we could use with the smart street lights as well as the cameras mayor so that way we would have 24-hour seven days a week surveillance of our beautiful Riverfront thank you madam mayor thank you for your hard work thank you councilmember Vespa thank you madam mayor um yeah I also want to commend uh you all for putting this together I think it is very exciting um I think you know when people cross 74 into our city and they see something like this it you know it kind of it impresses them um and impresses uh it'll impress a lot of people already here too um Daniel draw large crowds I think that itself does a lot for security um I I am a little confused about the interactive water feature I didn't see anything in the slides about it except that there would be one behind the gateway building but isn't there already one behind the gateway building or are we talking about that one that stopped working years ago So currently behind the gateway building go the plan View yeah right there so currently uh straight out from the Gateway building there's a sunken bound it's not operable um older inoperable what we're proposing in this concept or this idea is a flush surface one with pop jets that can shoot water up through so it's Interactive Kids could run through it it lighting has become an art feature of it but it can also be turned off and just be deck space as well so if you're having an event at the Gateway building and needed it for that it would be an option this would be a totally different type of Fountain than what was there a lot newer technology a lot newer uh filter filtration system and and safer but not a pool that became problematic also okay just one of the question is this all going to be enclosed like a park and then you know locked at night or something or is this just open space the plan I I would see is is it would have operating hours close it dusker time determined by the city but it would not be fenced off and gated okay I think especially in an urban park in a park like Peoria to gate it off and close it off would be sending a wrong message also so you want it to be open and wanted to be for the people for the public and normal operating hours and signage that says when the Park is open when it's closed is appropriate and then through cameras through policing be maintained thank you council member Gordon Young I Echo the sentiments of just about everybody regarding the this is absolutely beautiful the beautification of it all I started thinking I started feeling it was more than thinking I felt and you want to feel it when you see it right I felt hope and optimism and and I think most of us are scratching our heads when it comes to the crime um in in the city and and I was so pleased to see you all include the data Associated the research associated with green spaces reducing crime it's true uh and so I'm glad this I was glad to see that I also was very pleased with the inclusion of neighboring residents in the art Artistry you know when you're invested in something you're more likely to invest in something when you play a role in it and so all of those moving parts that you all thought about it really shows in the hard work the effort and what we can do as a city I especially like that red sign of Peoria and I could see myself taking some selfies there thank you thank you council member Kelly thank you madam mayor um I join with my colleagues in uh being very appreciative of this plan I think I I just think it's got so many features that will be unique to our city the The River's Edge construction that's I I suppose you've seen that before I've never seen that before that's that is just a wonderful idea the uh uh the fountain and the the bell tower the uh the Peoria I know that you said we could do anything but sounds good to me the big Peoria sign um the flexibility of the River or the uh the uh what am I trying to say the downtown Market um I think that that rail system I suppose that's used somewhere um yes um there's an example of it done in Cincinnati they use it for a completely different purpose so hey I'm not going to say we don't use a good good idea but uh it was done in for a different purpose different way uh I think it's a good very good application harking to the history of Peoria um I guess in you know in some I think and think it's a beautiful design and going that far is good enough but the unique features of it uh the Peoria Illinois features of it I think are going to pay great great dividends to our city to the people who are who live here work here as well as people who are visiting but this is mainly for people who are here which is which is wonderful thank you very much thank you madam mayor welcome thank you councilman just to add we want to bring people down to the downtown area we want to bring them from all over Peoria downtown and part of this sound and art center is to have sort of a static art revealing the art and the history of Peoria whether the whiskey City whether the whatever the case might be have local artists participate in this well thank you councilman Grant one follow-up if it's uh 16 million or we have 25 million to spend we're still envisioning that this Riverfront Park will span from the Michael down to the Murray is that correct for the time being yes we're not going to compress it depending on the money situation depending on the money what we get the actual limits are now from bridge to bridge well we're planning on doing it from bridge to bridge yes if we have only 16 million are we still going to do it from bridge to bridge no I think that we can phase this I think that that's one of the things that we'll have to come back to you with design elements that maybe we have to say this comes at a later date because this is what we want to do first and and those will be discussions that we want to vet with you as the council as we we come forward with these items I think that's the best approach that we can take is to say if this is what we know that we have and I think that there's going to have to be an element as as Mr Green mentioned of private fundraising that we're going to have to do and and I think there's interest so we need to capitalize on that and probably you know be more diligent about seeing what we can do to raise additional dollars in order to make sure that we've got the capital costs and maintenance costs covered so now raising private dollars from whom from from benefactors whether that be individuals when when the riverfront for example was uh was done in the 90s there were there were private benefactors that gave money for uh different elements of the the project they they raised additional funds that went into um for example the Clock Tower and the the space Around the Clock Tower we need to continue to acknowledge those people uh that donated uh for the Gateway building and and that so you know we're going to continue to make sure that that we have that documented and and and maintained and preserved but we're gonna have to do that again it's it's similar to the process that was done in the 90s we're not relying on them for maintenance no I exactly I'm very serious the other thing is we have to consider the um we are going to get the Amtrak here mayor that's right so uh what thought process has gone into how this Riverfront Park would interact with uh with the Amtrak so so there's two elements that in in two locations that we've really been trying to zero in on for a potential Amtrak station the first being the post office which would be on the Northern and just outside of this area uh the second being the near the Gateway building where we're possibly looking at um what is currently caterpillar's parking lot as as a potential train station location uh that could tie into that so I think this fits nicely with all of that and it's something that we could do you know that by by our agreement with caterpillar right now over the weekends um and during when we have events that that after hours that parking lot is we have the ability to use that space so some of the questions my constituents our constituents wanted me to ask and uh the beautiful thing about this council is it's our downtown doesn't matter what district it officially resides in every one of us have constituents who have businesses downtown our downtown is a focal point of our civic pride it's not the only uh Focus for our civic pride but we all want this to work and I think we have I don't think we're at 30 000 feet anymore I think we know what we want granted we may have to make some adjustments depending upon the money situation but I don't think it's going to largely rule out the things that we think are essential and mayor that's all I have to contribute tonight thank you I agree remember Allen thank you madam mayor just a question for you uh Mr manager as we head into uh budget season and we will be deciding in the last two years of our American Rescue pen plan funds allocation is there a way that we can allocate any of that funding towards this project specifically I know one of the tranches is invested in water sewer or Broadband projects I mean is there any way where you could foresee us maybe investing some of that funds to address some of the flooding concerns structure project I think that there's the water and sewer I think they mean drinking water and and you know sanitary sewers so I'm not sure that we could use a lot of that for that some of the open space there may be an element of that that we could look at with with that um you know I think that we've we've also you know as part of that budget kind of already identified where we were looking at I think we may have only a million or two dollars left to really allocate based upon some of the other funds like small business support and you know demolition work in the city that we've been using those funds for so uh there's a little bit that I think that we'll have to to program that's coming forward I think that the the FEMA funds that that the brick grant that comes forward I think we're in a very good position on the on the flood protection uh to get additional federal dollars if we put together a good application that we need to do that so that's something that I think that we can certainly pursue from that perspective thank you thank you madam mayor thanking other people's money and you know we also may consider Federal earmark requests through our federal Representatives so everyone is interested in reimagining our downtown and reimagining our Riverfront it's a high priority because just like councilman grab said the downtown the riverfront we all it's it's all all of ours it's not one District right it's it's all of ours uh but gentlemen Mr garib Mr Graham you've exceeded my expectations with this marvelous plan I also want to thank you director powers and and Mr manager and your teams for all the effort and and work that you've put into this it's been a very inclusive process which is is very important to us and once we approve you know this concept it's going to be part of our strategic plan we're going through a strategic planning process and this becomes uh part of that plan so we're going to continue to work very closely with our state representatives and our state department of dceo to to work to get that money released so that we can move forward with this project so thank you very much oh I've got one more council member Kelly thank you mayor mayor I just wanted to move to receive and file thank you is there a second second by council member council member gribb okay second by council member grab no more discussion please cash your ballots motion passes unanimously thank you thank you very much thank you Claire we are at regular business 23-277 is a communication from the city manager and director of Community Development with a request to approve a resolution amending that East Village growth cell tax increment financing Economic Development advisory committee Charter to update membership representation after the 2020 census redistricting and modify the schedule for regular meetings Mr manager yes uh thank you madam Merriman actually turned the floor over to director Doolin to outline this and I think that councilman riggerbach will certainly have some comments as well okay director thank you Council thank you mayor I think I'm actually going to defer to councilman rigenbach if that is okay and he is going to handle it then I'll take any questions about the specifics it's my regenbach it's a roundabout way thank you madam mayor um Forest tonight is really very much a housekeeping item after the 2020 census and the redrawing of the council Maps there needed to be some adjustments to the membership of the committee and and the purpose and a few of the um details of the charter were updated to reflect the reality of what we've been doing the last 10 years and with that comment of what we've been doing the last 10 years I wanted to take this opportunity if I may just to to bring all of my colleagues and and the public up to speed on this because this Tiff the East Village grow cell Tiff was formed right in the aftermath of the closing of Cub Foods which was the Midtown part of the Midtown Tiff so at that time tiffs were kind of a a naughty word and the fact that the city was thinking about another Tiff really raised a lot of eyebrows particularly in the East Bluff neighborhood so part of that process is we worked with OSF because it was the Tiff that helped facilitate the building of the jump trading center which I think we now consider an anchor in that part of town but part of that was to establish this Advisory Group so we've had this group of citizens meeting on a regular basis and they will continue to meet going forward as well we've just like I say done a little bit of housekeeping with the makeup of the actual committee but let me point out some of the things that this Tiff has accomplished for the East Bluff and the East Village in general and that goes down the hill a little bit beyond um Glen Oak probably one of my proudest moments was the Nebraska court or when OSF took the Cub Food and repurposed that into their wonderful facility there along with heartland health we really felt that it was necessary to to make the East Bluff more welcoming so we spent money improving the sidewalks along Nebraska we repaved the street and this year we have new lighting going in there as well so it really will be a welcoming thing for the people that work there and visit that that OSF facility that they can come down Nebraska take a quick left on Wisconsin and get some of the best steak tacos in town at me Familia so um that Nebraska Corridor I think was a very important part of that puzzle initially that being said Wisconsin Avenue itself is going to be rebuilt all the way from Forest Hill to Republic right in front of Glen Oaks school and that's something the council has been very committed to and we appreciate your ongoing support for that um we were able to secure some additional funding from the state thank you leader to Gordon booth for that and that project is being engineered now and hopefully we'll see construction and groundbreaking actually take place next year so Wisconsin itself will be rebuilt which will really dovetail with the Wisconsin Avenue business plan which we put in place um about eight years ago that Corridor again from Republic up to McClure we put new pedestrian scale Lighting in the ornamental lighting there there were some new bus shelters put in by City Link and we've been very focused on our efforts to recruit new businesses there obviously with the Kroger closing that was kind of a kick in the gut if you will but um heartland health has done an amazing job with that facility and that area has never looked better so if you haven't been over there lately I would encourage you to check that out and as our police chief announced a couple months ago when we have the co-responder model coming into play they're going to be using that facility also as a police substation if you will that's probably not the right word Chief but there will be a stronger police presence there as well so that'll also add to the security in that area and let people know the commitment the city's making is ongoing let me just point out a few of the commercial developments that have taken place I would be remiss if I didn't recognize our long long ago community development director Pat Landis and Ross black for their leadership in getting this formed because as we were planning the boundaries of this Tiff it was decided that we want to include the west side of Knoxville the the second district as we all are aware and that has been a tremendous boon to the Tiff itself because the McDonald's was reconstructed the Burger King was built new the Karo Aqua two car washes ironically have come into that area um Starbucks Popeyes was also remodeled and then as I mentioned earlier the OSF developments on that site with the jump trading center and now the cancer treatment center those are just unfathomable the commitment that OSF is putting right here in the heart of the the East Bluff area so commercial development and things like that or what people expect from a tiff but the thing that makes this Tiff unique and the part that I think this Council can be most proud of is the residential component that we put in place the East Village grow cell housing program in the years and and director Doolin and I had a little talk about the council communication because it the the numbers here go back to 2018.

the program actually started in 2016 so going back to 2016 we have helped over 100 homeowners in the East Bluff make improvements to their homes and that dollar amount is over 500 000 so I think that's something that shows our commitment to home ownership it shows our commitment to the Heritage neighborhoods and it's something that's ongoing this year and or last year in 22 22 the Tiff generated about 450 000 so when people stop you on the street and say oh another Tiff well just know that when they're done right they are an incredible tool one one last comment and then I'll move for approval I promise but the residential new construction has also been something that I think we can all be proud of as well the city through Lisk um was awarded a grant from the Attorney General's office that generated eight new owner-occupied homes in the East Bluff and or excuse me there were eight new homes built by habitat during this time eight new duplexes from that Attorney General Grant which are for Supportive Housing for for residents with disabilities and then there were six new houses built on barons as part of that Attorney General Grant and those are owner occupied houses and then we all know about Peoria opportunities and their affordable renting rental houses which produced 30 new construction homes for residents in the East Bluff for the city of Peoria let's be honest so there's been a lot of good momentum going here there's still work to be done clearly but I think as we as we move forward we we want to remind ourselves of the progress and the commitment that we've made and we want to remind our constituents that um just like with this Riverfront plan it took five years of planning to get to this point sometimes the change doesn't happen as quick as we want but we have the commitment that we're going to continue working for that change and with that I would move for the approval of the item before us seconded by council member grab thank you councilman rickenback for taking your time and identifying all those amazing outcomes because they are amazing outcomes and and this has been I would say a model Tiff program that hopefully can be replicated in in other areas but those are some amazing results and we should all be very proud so thank you for your leadership there thank you to staff do you director Doolin will have anything to add no uh I think that you know director black former director black at Slaughter credit for working with this a lot of Staff members that are no longer employed by the city of Peoria because they moved on to other things we're part of this plan putting it together their hard work and then our existing staff that continues to implement this I think as councilman rickenback highlighted one of the the best components of this is not only you have some commercial development some non-profit development but also a lot of affordable housing development and traditionally with tiffs affordable housing isn't something you always look at because sometimes those uh entities don't pay property taxes but I think a good mix of all that has has ensured that we have more affordable housing than we've had previously in the East Bluff and really try to encourage others to kind of Step Up so just a really good mix of everything really appreciative of staff's work on all this there's a lot going on there councilman yeah thank you madam mayor and director Julian forgive me for not acknowledging the work of your department from like we mentioned director black but you and assistant director Allison have just been an incredible support for this Carrie Lynn Wick is working specifically with Third District issues Abby yumba the list of our staff is incredible and I just want to give them a shout out as well so thank you and I'll also share with my friend Pat Landis your your comments she'll appreciate that from the Texas I believe okay we have a motion and a second on the floor please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously Madam Clerk 23-278 is a communication from the city manager chief of police and finance director comptroller with a request for the following a approve a contract with Bob Lindsay Honda of Peoria for the purchase of two SUVs and an amount not to exceed sixty thousand five hundred and ten dollars and B approve a resolution to waive the bidding requirements for an additional seven SUVs for an amount not to exceed 255 490 and this item B requires two-thirds vote of the council member's voting no less than six votes thank you Mr manager motion uh thank you madam mayor I'm going to turn the floor over to finance director Kyle karate to walk through this item and explain the reason that we're asking for the waiver yeah absolutely the item in front of you tonight is related to the I seizure funding that the police department was able to to get through the state we came to you in May requesting the budget amendment for the this item and included in that was the nine SUVs for the co-response model we went out to bid in early June the only responsive bid that we got from was from Bob Lindsay for the two SUVs so we reached out to a lot of the different dealerships in the area to ask why and what we are finding is that they are unable to commit to having nine SUVs in stock for these in the time frame that we need them to get this program up and running so the request in front of you tonight is to approve the two that Bob Lindsay did give us a bid on but then also give staff the ability to go out into the open market and procure these vehicles we have done our due diligence these type of vehicles they are not your traditional police cruiser so these are more compact SUVs these do not really these do not fall under State the state contract that we use a lot for our vehicles they do not fall in any joint purchase Arena so we have gone through those those options and the city code requires that that city council would waive the bidding requirements under certain circumstances by this two-thirds vote so that is the request this evening is to give staff the authority to go out in the open market and procure the additional seven vehicles for an amount not to exceed that 255 490 which coupled with the original request from Bob Lindsay is the 315 000 which was the original uh part of the budget amendment that was passed in May and I'm available if you have any questions council member Kelly thank you madam mayor director craddy um it's not that you're too modest but could you go into a little bit further the the reason that it was difficult for dealers to deal with our uh with our request yeah it is really twofold it is that their inability to be able to have that stock and get that stock in the time that we need it it is also one of the issues we would run into is they would have it on their lot ready for us to to buy through a bid but because it's they're able to sell it by the amount of time it takes us to actually get back to council for approval they would sell the vehicle out from underneath our original request which I understand in this environment and that is where the struggle point for us is is when we go to a dealership and say we want this but it's going to be three weeks to a month they're not that interested in wanting to sell to us on this thank you I think that makes it uh clearer men mayor I would move to approve item a okay is there a second seconded by uh councilwoman Gordon Young any questions comments Council Hayes thank you madam mayor is there 10 members in the chamber tonight this will take seven votes to approve thank you thank you you're welcome if there's no more questions please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously councilman Kelly thank you madam mayor I move to approve Item B seconded by council member Allen any comments or questions please cast your ballots motion passes unanimously I'm Clerk we are at unfinished business do we have any unfinished business only um in regard to strategic planning council is scheduled to meet with our consultant on August the 9th on a I think from 10 o'clock to four o'clock and I think we've heard from almost everybody I think we've got one that might be out of town on that date but we wanted to have a backup plan in the event that we were not able to get everything done in that one day that we would hopefully take the day after which is August the 10th and have four hours or up to four hours that evening which would mean four o'clock P.M to 8 o'clock p.m that evening so that's that's the request hopefully we can get a majority of the council to to be able to accommodate that again if we got everything done on the 10th we wouldn't have to have the meeting I mean on the ninth we wouldn't have to have the meeting on the 10th but that's that is the request so okay we are at new business is there any new business councilmember Allen uh thank you madam mayor um School season is upon us as most uh school students who would definitely attempt your public schools they do return next week with the new schedule the school year snuck up on us but there are two school supply drives happening this week the first one is Thursday it is the fill the fire truck back to school bash in collaboration with the Peoria fire department local 50 in the afro american fighter fire Association Along with the Peoria Park District this event will take place at tree wind park at four from 4 30 to 7 P.M so people can arrive and they're able to get school supplies and backpacks and um in time for school for next week and then there's another school supply Drive looks like this Saturday at the Dream Center their annual backpack Peoria event is uh this Saturday the 29th from 9 A.M to noon so get out there and make sure that our students they have the tools and resources they need to be successful this upcoming year and I do want to shout out uh Antoine Banks CEO of product of the project he had his back to school drive last Saturday and I mean he had a thousand people over there on the hill off Armstrong Street for his event so a lot of great community events making sure that our students have what they need to be successful please if you have already attended OneDrive do not double up let's spread the wealth because the need is great and we want to make sure that everyone has what they need to be successful thank you madam mayor thank you councilman Allen councilmember Jackson thank you madam mayor I would just like to um commend the public works department if uh simarun is in the back is he back in the back director powers or in the Overflow room could he uh is he around okay well uh director Powers I I don't know if you were privy to some of the work that's been going on but um I think sometime last fall we had been talking a lot about a matter of fact let me back up a couple years ago we were talking about the issues with illegal dumping and tires and I just wanted to commend the public works department that has been collaborating with Ameren Illinois to clear a lot of the brush and uh install lighting uh throughout alleys in and around parts of the south side and I think the hard work is paying off because as the students have been going around this summer doing litter Patrol um I I'm happy to say I have not seen uh the problem we've noticed in previous years with uh tires and and you know there were several instances in the past where we run across 25 in an alley here that's not to say they're not someplace in a uh boarded up house but they have not been visible in and around places where we have always seen them in the past so I just would like to commend you all on the hard work that you've been doing in terms of trying to get the alleys lit and uh clearing a lot of those spaces where people had been dumping tires in the past so thank you director powers and and uh city manager and uh simarun for all of your hard work thank you madamir welcome actually I would take that a step further counselor actually Sean Johnson has been leading that ever specifically within operations with Ameren in the planned lighting and how it was going through through the zones and the hot spots that we had and please don't say that to you word a third time because they'll show up it's like Beetlejuice but agreed we've been seeing less but still have plenty of them out there so appreciate your kind words Madam Claire we're at citizens opportunity to address the city council okay I've got five cards the first is Reverend Gianni fogliano oh good evening city council Madam Mayer my name is Reverend Gianni fuliano I am here to talk to you today about Downtown parking I was so excited to hear about the developments that are potentially coming to our River flint and for the new business that's going in on Main Street um we've been having a problem lately in the evenings around parking around that new business specifically also around diesel which is a community center for the LGBT community here in Peoria I've had a conversation with the minister my colleague at First United Methodist Church about the parking situation in front of diesel they have had a long-standing agreement with diesel that diesel staff would clean the parking lot after they closed in the evenings to allow parking spaces for their customers it has become an issue during the summer that the city police department is telling the church that they have to close the parking making our customers not our customers but members of our community who attend events at Diesel have to park in the back in the the Civic Center Parking which requires walking off into a a side street it's not as safe people don't feel comfortable not being able to leave the business and go to a parking space that's at invisible distance I understand that this change from the police department is in part to combat the tailgating that was happening last summer which is fair but I have parked in spots that are two blocks away that still have tailgating that aren't being forced to be closed so I'm really here to ask that we take into consideration of the safety of our community that we need to be able to park somewhere that we can be watched as we're walking safely to our parking space and allowed the church to re-enter that agreement with diesel to allow parking if we don't do this it is hurting the business to not have parking I recall um during the conversation about putting in the reverse angle parking in Downtown councilman Graham being very adamant about the importance of having accessible parking to our businesses in downtown and to restrict parking is to restrict business in downtown not allowing people to park is not going to it may eliminate crime but if you don't allow people to park you also eliminate business so I ask you to consider reversing this policy and and allow for parking use the laws that already exist to monitor alcohol consumption out in public spaces that's not allowed that shouldn't be allowed to begin with but to restrict parking from from customers that aren't engaged in that activity is punishing people that don't need to be thank you thank you next we have Tom heyful Tom heifel Raley's extra leaves greetings just wanted to um my support or share the support of the downtown advisory commission we asked for a a special meeting of the um of the planning team and they were kind enough gracious enough to meet with us and uh we had a chance to review it there are a number of us as as Kevin well knows and and director Powers there's a number of us that were in this from the beginning and there were many iterations and and gnashing of teeth and whatnot that happen relative to parking and green space and and um and all of that and and I think that uh and and I should should also mention Sharon Graham in the in the riverfront market and and her working with with the planning team as well so there's a lot the we go down there and they look at and think that there's a lot of space down there but when you start to actually look at all the components that we want to put on the riverfront market and have them work effectively for our community and for the the residents I think it becomes a challenge and I think we've gotten to a point even at thirty thousand feet I think the plane is still flying and we'll see if we can land it obviously the the uh the devil's into details and particularly budgets and and things like that so just wanted to uh again Express the downtown advisory committee's support for the uh the plan as it uh is presented now thank you that's great thank you Mr Leese Jonathan Volta this week um I wanted to comment on the riverfront uh Redevelopment plan um I I like a lot of things I love the Band Shell I love the the dog park the sports amenities there's a lot of like very amazing additions to that space But I do have some criticisms and I I you may you may be able to guess if you remember what I said last week about what I'm going to comment on um where's the bike parking I don't think I saw a single there wasn't a mention of it I don't think I saw anything in that presentation that looked like you'd park a bike at it you're you're telling me you went to they went to cities like all over that are similar River Cities making improvements in their space and they didn't think to add bike parking I mean I'm sorry I don't mean I don't mean to sound like sarcastic or or not uh snippy or rude um but this is kind of silly um looking if you look at the the picture of the overhead view the whole thing um it's like 50 Gray um and I I I do like adamantly believe that like green spaces are extremely valuable and I believe that but I don't need to believe it because there's there's research behind the fact that that is impeccably valuable to a city and to its people um and I mean you've got the opportunity to make drastic improvements in like 50 of it is gray is part is parking lot I know I know you need some of it but um I know parking is you know obviously a big issue in a lot of a lot of ways in the city but um there's very very little space on the riverfront and you want half of it to be for cars and they they're calling it flexible space I mean is the parking lot right outside this building called flexible space if it's flexible it's in spite of the fact that it's a parking lot um so I frankly this is kind of really disappointing um please I'm I'm begging you to make biking and other forms of Transit a priority because if you do you will not need as much parking space and people don't want to people don't want to travel to a parking lot they parking makes a space readily accessible for uh but it becomes a space that people no longer want to go to so so I'm I am adamantly against surface parking I'm adamantly against adding a lot of surface surface parking I I get that it already is mostly parking what they said they'd add 10 more spaces um like but yeah you have you have an opportunity to to make dramatic improvements not um marginal ones so um and so far as this is still in the planning phase please prioritize at at least at least a bike rack like one I I okay I'll stop and playing now it is it is a very exciting plan so I don't want to sound like I'm just dogging on it um it you know if we had this tomorrow I would be so stoked to go play volleyball or or whatever it is it looks very very cool um so um thank you for that and uh that's all I got thanks Mr Wilder last we have Katie Van Cleave it's Van Cleave hello I'm here to talk about the riverfront plan as well and I was super interested to hear about it I've been watching it a little bit from afar thirty thousand feet maybe you might say and and I'm really interested specifically in the accessibility or usability of the space and I know that we're still at 30 000 feet but there's a lot of things I can see there and that's that we are not really Thinking Beyond minimum requirements and I want to make sure that we understand that um you know I have a lot of respect for Architects and engineers and this is an amazing plan it's fantastic but the thing about the Ada it is it it is a minimum requirement it is a barely passing grade and we owe it to ourselves the 15 to 25 million we're going to put into this plan and future generations to make sure that we are doing more than barely passing in this plan so I urge you to make sure that Universal Design is a foundation of not just the 30 000 feet conceptual plan but every piece of this plan I was really struck by something that councilman rigenbach said he referred to this as our front yard if our citizens with disabilities cannot get into the front yard where else will they go in this city and we need to think long and hard about that when we're looking at this design and it needs to not be an afterthought every piece of this design should consider I think Madame mayor said all of us it should consider all of us including our citizens with disabilities thank you welcome Madam Clerk we are at executive session hey I would like to invite a motion to adjourn and to convene in closed session immediately following a German at the city council meeting pursuant to the open meetings act 5 ilcs 120-2 C11 to discuss pending litigation and pursuant to the open meetings act 5 i l CS 120 slash 2c21 for approval by the body for of closed session minutes please cast your ballots oh yes moved by council member Euler seconded by council member Allen please cast your ballots council member grab motion passes unanimously thank you for your service