May 2016
Friends of Riverfront Park Point Out Faulty Map.
At the April 26th Peoria City Council Meeting, the City Council approved an additional four month delay in due diligence financial documentation and other requirements regarding the sale of the downtown Riverfront Park 5.8 acres of public open space for four, four-story high luxury apartment buildings and extensive surface parking. A six month extension had previously been approved, which expired at the end of April. Please email or phone your THANKS to City Council members Chuck Grayeb, Beth Akeson, and Beth Jenson, who voted against the contract extension. Please contact City Council member Tim Riggenbach to let him know you are very disappointed that he voted for the extension as he originally voted against the sale at the September, 2015 City Council meeting.
Several members of Friends of Riverfront Park spoke at the meeting about discrepancies in City documents regarding the proposed replacement property for the park sale. Extensive land mitigation and landscaping work will have to be done on the 1.3 acre Simantel property. The second parcel is owned by the Detweiller Trust and is stated as 4.25 acres. Part of that parcel will not be included for the replacement park land as the City is planning to allow the Peoria Boat Club private clubhouse to remain. The City is selling the 5.8 acres of the existing Riverfront Park, which does not flood and is essentially level and has mature landscaping, for $1.75 per square foot. The replacement land which floods extensively and will require extensive work, is valued by the City at $1.85 per square foot. By contrast, in the 1990’s the City sold the RiverPlex property to the Peoria Park District for $5.50 per square foot.
The map presented to the public to show the replacement property has not been accepted by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Office, which is tasked with evaluating the appropriateness of this land sale. The City has been required to present a corrected map showing just the parcels that are to be purchased as replacement property for the existing Riverfront Park, and remove the ‘in-fill’ of an existing but unimproved city owned lot and the east end of Spring Street. The existing park was purchased with federal Land and Water Conservation Fund money and specific guidelines are supposed to be applied to convert such public land for private use. Replacement property has to be of at least fair market value and comparable recreational usefulness. Friends of Riverfront Park continue to contest the Riverfront Park sale. The next City deadline on the property issues is July 29th.