October 2015

This is part of the riverfront land the city of Peoria plans as a replacement for the current Riverfront Park, which will be sold for privately developed apartments.

As the saying goes, lipstick on a pig is still a pig. How is the proposed Peoria City Hall “replacement property” for the current Riverfront Park like lipstick on a pig? For starters, much of it floods. Given the increasing number of Peoria flood events beyond expected spring and fall floods, a large portion of the proposed property may not be accessible to the public for numerous weeks through the year. Yes, it is a really good idea to have flood prone land safe from development, but can citizens count on the city to keep the land as a park? What is the next land swap the city may dream up for more development verses public open space along the Peoria Riverfront? Where are the hundreds of thousands of dollars coming from to rehab the proposed acres to make them usable by the public? No funding was budgeted for reclaiming this replacement property.

The overriding issues remain. Selling public park land for private, for-profit development is unacceptable. The HOI Board revisited this issue at their October ExCom and remains opposed to this development. Please let your Peoria City Council Representative know your continued concerns about this project. If you live outside of Peoria, send a note to the Peoria Mayor’s office or a Letter to the Peoria Journal Star and help keep opposition to this project visible.  

The City of Peoria's proposed replacement property for the loss of the current Riverfront Park.
The city would purchase the Detweiller Playground Trust and Simantel properties.