The Village of Peoria Heights has retained the services of Wayne Aldrich as its first-ever community development director, through a consultant contract with the architectural and engineering firm Farnsworth Group.
Aldrich’s appointment was unanimously confirmed at the Village Board’s Dec. 21 meeting.
Though a consultant, “I commit to you that I will be like an employee for Peoria Heights,” Aldrich, 61, told the Village Board. “My allegiance is to the Heights.”
“Mr. Aldrich’s résumé speaks for itself,” said Trustee Dave Marfell, addressing Aldrich’s work both as an Illinois Department of Transportation engineer and as a driving force behind Uptown Normal, the transformation of that community’s commercial center adjacent to Illinois State University, where he oversaw the construction of two hotels, a multi-modal transportation center, a new town hall, a children’s museum, new restaurants, residential developments and a reimagined streetscape complete with intersecting recreational paths.
He helped secure some $60 million in state and federal grants for that McLean County community, which is about a 45-minute drive east of the Heights.
That background made him the obvious choice, and an excellent fit, for a Peoria Heights that aspires to some of the same types of development, said Mayor Michael Phelan. Meanwhile, the coming reconstruction/reinvention of Galena Road/Illinois Route 29 along the Heights’ waterfront, along with the Village’s visions for War Memorial Drive and Prospect Road, could certainly get a lift from someone with an IDOT background and contacts, said the mayor.
While with IDOT for the first 15 years of his career -- stationed in Ottawa at the time -- Aldrich worked on the original construction of Interstate 39, while also lending a hand to projects on I-55, I-74 and Bloomington-Normal’s Veterans Parkway.
Meanwhile, Aldrich also can draw on his experience at every stage of the economic development process – from land acquisition to negotiation with developers, from planning to design, from construction through completion. He also is very familiar with the mechanics of local government, having spent his entire career – 38 years -- as a public servant at the municipal and state levels. He was Normal’s public works director between 2014 and his retirement from that post in August.
A Springfield native, Aldrich is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, where he earned a degree in civil engineering.
The Village’s decision to create the community development director position grew out of its recent long-range planning and board goal-setting efforts, which included not just a focus on economic development but on neighborhood revitalization.
“It’s a huge win for Peoria Heights,” said Village Administrator Dustin Sutton. “It’s a huge win for our administration.”