January 2016

January 20th 6 p.m. Public Hearing on Entire Riverfront Park Project and Proposed Land Conversion

Please attend this hearing at Peoria City Hall, 419 Fulton St., in the 4th floor city council chamber.

Your comments on how you use the Riverfront Park, what issues you see with selling this public green space or other comments on the apartments project or proposed land swap area will help us make the case to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and the National Park Service (NPS) that this project must not be approved.

This is the mandatory public hearing required for federally funded Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) “conversion” proposals.

This sign in Riverfront Park indicates the land was purchased with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Click on the image for a larger view.

The Riverfront Park was purchased in the 1980s with LWCF federal funds for the specific purpose of being public open space. The City of Peoria “land swap” for the existing Riverfront Park land must be approved by the Illinois Department of Conservation (IDNR) and the National Park Service (NPS). We contend the Riverfront Park should be kept as public open space and the apartments project should be relocated. There are specific criteria for LWCF property conversions. We contend the City of Peoria has failed to meet critical factors:

• 4.39 acres of the proposed conversion property does not qualify under LWCF guidelines because the property is already held for public use as the Detwieller Playground property. Much of the proposed replacement land is subject to flooding.
• City plans to close the river end of Spring Street to add to the necessary replacement land is closing a public street and this property should not be included in the LWCF replacement acres.  The city is giving different property assessments for the street with the side on the privately owned Simantel 1.27 acre lot a higher value than the half of the street on the side of the Detwieller Playground land.
• The proposed 143 apartments and 270 car parking lot will greatly change the serenity and uses of the remaining strips of Riverfront Park. The quiet open space for people at the Fogelberg Memorial and at the Alzheimers Memorial will be changed by adjacent car traffic noise, lights, and the looming presence of four, four story buildings and pavement on the 5.8 acres of park that were open green space, a gravel parking lot, picnic area, and loop trail with many mature trees to add to the quality of the area.
• A dead end road will be built from the RiverPlex lot and the foot of Irving Street up through the narrows of the park to the apartments. A 27 car parking lot labeled “Guest Parking” is indicated on the proposed site plan on  the remaining public park but right outside the entrance to the luxury apartments complex. We contend the new road and guest parking lot further cut up the Riverfront Park and make the west edge of the remaining park an “orphan park” because it can no longer be used for volley ball, soccer, or the other uses it served before this land sale. A full accounting of the new parking lot area and the new street and curbs must be made and included in the required LWCF replacement as these are all parts of the apartment project development.

Photo taken of flooding at part of the proposed Riverfront Park land swap area January 3rd, 2016, one day after the Illinois River crested.

The City of Peoria has numerous documents, site plans, and maps about the luxury apartments project and the proposed “replacement land” on their webpage Riverfront Park Extension Project and Land Conversion.

Public announcements from the city show that 8.14 acres of new park will be completed to replace the 5.84 acres of the existing Riverfront Park that is being sold for luxury apartments, however, 4.39 acres of the replacement land are already Detweiller public land, .86 acres is the existing public river end of Spring Street, and 1.62 acres is an existing city owned parcel that has never been improved. Not only is the City short on the necessary acres needed for replacing the park, they have scrambled acres to make their proposal look much more substantial than it really is.

Your written comments must be received at Peoria City Hall no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 25th.

Heart of Illinois Sierra Club maintains the best and highest use of Riverfront Park is as public open green space. We urge you to write about the importance of keeping the open green space and existing prairie at the park in its totality.

Comments can be emailed to riverfront@peoriagov.org  or mailed to:

River Trail Project Comments
City of Peoria
419 Fulton #207
Peoria, IL 61602