PEORIA, IL -- After five hours of spending one of the last hot summer days, Sept. 3, in a meeting of the Peoria Planning and Zoning Commission, you have to wonder: was it a waste of time?
At issue: the proposed River Trail apartments at Riverfront Park. (See many stories below on this subject.)
The commission refused to approve the road from the south, past the Riverplex, into the proposed River Trail Apartments. That was after the developer's lawyer, Bob Hall, twice said the project wouldn't be built without that road.
It also apparently did not rezone the Riverfront Park site for apartments, even though it approved the plans without the road. The ending of the meeting was confusing and no one was 100 percent sure what happened.
But it didn't matter, because the Peoria City Council, which takes up the matter on Sept. 22, can overrule what the commission decides.
Why would anyone serve on a commission that can be overruled with only a majority vote, and not a 2/3rds vote? Beats me.
The City Council chambers were packed, and the commissioners heard the now familiar arguments, from the dangers of the hazardous waste stored at the two chemical plans, and transported on the trains that pass very close to the proposed apartments, to problems with the road from the south, which would wipe out the volleyball courts, the prairie, and many mature trees.
Only the road argument impressed the commissioners, and not all of them, but enough.
Hall said former mayor Carver knew the plans always contemplated residential in the park. After I presented the commission with the original documents showing how the federal government paid $400,000 toward the purchase price with an agreement that it would be a park and nothing else, he kept quiet.
He also said he felt safe in the area, to counter the haz waste issues. I had passed out a list of the waste I obtained from the Peoria Fire Department. Likely all those Chinese killed recently in their homes when a factory storing haz waste exploded also felt safe -- until they didn't.
So -- no doubt the developers will take one last bite at the apple with the Peoria City Council, to see if developer Glen Barton's generosity toward certain council members (see post below for details) will pay off.
Likely Sept. 22 will not be a waste of time.
-- Elaine Hopkins
UPDATE, 9/4/15: Here's the PJS story on the hearing. It helpfully contains the names of the 'suits' but little on the protesters. If 10,000 people showed up at the next opportunity, would it change council members' minds? Don't bet on it. See above.
Comments