March 2018

The City of Peoria wants to use this Deteweiller Trust property as a partial replacement for parkland which would be lost for the proposed River Trail Apartments. (photo: January 2016)

Also: Thank You Peoria City Council Members!

At the February 27th Peoria City Council meeting, City Administrator Patrick Urich stated in public that the  National Park Service (NPS) is requiring  the City redo the appraisals for an earlier riverfront public park land swap.  This issue has come under federal scrutiny due to efforts of Friends of Riverfront Park to put light on the series of land swaps and conversions the City has done regarding public riverfront park land, raising many issues regarding the current proposed sale of Riverfront Park public space for private apartments.

The City of Peoria River Trail Update for February 23rd, 2018 has the following as posted from City Administratork Urich:

Last Wednesday I received correspondence from IDNR and the National Park Service pertaining to the 2013 Rocky Glen purchase using federal land acquisition funds. The correspondence made it clear that the City will need to redo the appraisals for the Rocky Glen conversion and work with NPS and IDNR to determine how much fair market value is still outstanding, locate eligible replacement property that meets the conversion requirements 36 C.F.R. 59.3, complete new appraisals to meet the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (UASFLA), submit a complete conversion proposal to NPS, and wait for NPS to review and approve the additional replacement property. This is all prior to any conversion for the River Trail project.

Comments during Council discussion made it clear it could take months for the City to complete these requirements for NPS, however, this has not appeared to impress the Mayor and six Council members who voted for the sale of public parkland. Stay tuned: this battle is not over.

Thank Our Champions for Voting No!

THANK YOU Peoria City Council Members Beth Akeson, Chuck Grayeb, Beth Jensen and Jim Montelongo, who bravely voted against a proposed budget amendment that would have allowed TIF District funds to be used for purchase of property as part of the Riverfront Park land swap. The City has not yet met conditions required by the National Park Service for sale of the existing park property, so any land purchase at this point is premature. The TIF funds being targeted were never intended for this purpose.  The latest vote in this issue happened February 27th.