Curtis Road, Downtown Housing, Beardsley Park…All this and Dinner for the Police
Jul 22nd 2008DebGovernment
Council is making dinner for Champaign Police tonight at the station on University Ave. We will be in the parking lot grilling starting about 4:00. Honk as you drive by.
The Council is being asked tonight to approve in concept ideas for the Curtis Road overlay district. They include requiring larger tracts for development and having public input required as part of the development process. Council is also being asked to look at items such as sustainability in the area (do we want to require green buildings or trails or other types of environmentally friendly approaches). The idea behind larger development tracts is that they can then be planned in a cohesive manner instead of development happening on a lot by lot basis (think North Prospect). Although my general business philosphy is that the market should drive development, I see Curtis Road as a unique opportunity to help provide our community with an asthetically pleasing and useful commercial development area. This will be a more highly planned area then we have had in the past but it should also offer a level playing field to the developers and result in an area that the current residents in the area will support and find as an amenity as well as the rest of the community.
Downtown Housing.
We also have on the agenda the report on downtown housing. Last week a group of us went to the Quad Cities to see how they are handling residential in their downtowns. In Moline we saw a Gorman project with live work space in a converted school. It had both affordable and market rent apartments in one building. The “affordable” housing units that we saw included a City worker and a working Mother of 2. Under the program used individuals in the affordable housing can increase their income by 40% and still qualify for the lowered rent. This allows people to stay in their homes and accumulate savings. The idea being that from that apartment people may be able to then move and buy a home. The building was beautiful and unique because of the use of the old school. We also saw a mixed use development in Rock Island that was condos on the top floors with commercial below. This is also a rehab of a building in the core downtown. The condos (of which some are larger than my house sq. ft. wise) included balconies overlooking the river and the roof will be a green roof with a flower garden and sitting space for the condo owners. It was under construction but seemed like it will be wonderful. It incorporates some of the original building elements and provides nice views for the owners.
In our plan the discussion centers on the fringe areas of downtown not just the central core (the expanded downtown). Bringing more people to downtown should help to support existing business and also provide opportunity for more growth. Increasing housing options may mean that the people who work downtown will be able to afford to also live downtown and may then choose to walk or bike to work instead of bringing cars. All of this is a benefit to the downtown and our community. One interesting note from the report is that the housing is actually selling for under where the market could/should be so there is potential for growth. We are encouraged to develop an overall plan and neighborhood plans for the “expanded downtown” and don’t worry- parking is something that is going to be looked at as the plan is developed as well open space in the expanded downtown neighborhoods. Community input will also be part of the creation of the plan. You can see the staff memo and consultant’s report here.
From our staff memo on the Beardsley Park Redevelopment Plan:
Recently, staff has become aware that the Urban League Property, located along the east side of Neil Street, from Bradley to Beardsley Avenues, and at the southwest corner of Bradley Avenue and Hickory Street could be available for purchase. The property is zoned for single family residential development. Acquisition of this property would allow staff to facilitate redevelopment of this area, thus removing a significant blighting influence and restoring an asset to the neighborhood. This would support three Council Goals, “Complete Implementation of the Beardsley Park Plan”, “Implement Programs and Strategies to Increase Commercial and Residential Infill Development”, and “Prepare and Implement a Neil Street Corridor Development and Streetscape Plan”.
This is a reasonable use of budgeted money that is allocated for Beardsley Park redevelopment activities. This money is currently prioritized for acquisition, environmental testing and remediation, and site clearance. It is allocated for subarea 3 but moving it to this area seems reasonable since it is anticipated that subarea 3 will not develop for a significant amount of time as Herff Jones, Inc. owns the property in this subarea. It seems that this purchase fits nicely into the overall plan. If directed to move forward, staff will negotiate with Urban League for the purchase of the properties. It also allows the City to help direct redevelopment in these areas in conjunction with our existing plan.
Finally, we are being asked to change the name of Valleybrook South Drive as it keeps getting confused with Valley Brook Drive. The memo is here . Houses on both streets have the same numerical address and are being confused by delivery people, emergancy services etc. Staff has met with the neighbors and is proposing a name change. Re-numbering is a more expensive option because many of the homes have the address embedded in the brick on their home. Given the e-mail I have received and the information in the report this seems to be supported generally by the neighbors as the best option to fix the problem.
Come to the meeting to comment, e-mail me, or watch us on t.v. either way your input is appreciated.