In March of 2020 due to Covid-19, the disruption of water service for non payment of water bills was temporarily suspended. As of July 7th we have lifted that restriction. We will continue to work with our residents in regards to payments if needed. If you need to set up a payment plan or wish to speak with us regarding the payment of your bill please contact the water office at:
309-686-2375
Starting between July 9-14th, Montclair Ave will be closed from E Kingman Ave to E Highland/Belmont area. Greater Peoria Sanitary District will be completing a sewer manhole replacement project. They are estimating the road will be closed for approximately one week once the work begins. Thank you for your cooperation in finding an alternate travel route during this time!
Village Hall will be closed on Friday, July 3rd, to celebrate the holiday.
Thank you
Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July!
Popcorn Works could open at the old Peoria Heights Pump House near Tower Park in early Fall if a new lease arrangement can be worked out between the Village and Kim Blickenstaff’s KDB Group.
With Peoria Heights Fire Chief Greg Walters set to retire in November, Village leaders are exploring various alternatives to provide future fire service – and ways to pay for it, as well.
The prospects for a boutique hotel in Peoria Heights took a leap forward this week, first with the Zoning Board’s unanimous approval of the site plan and four variances on Monday, then with a generally warm reception from the Village Board of Tuesday.
The Peoria Heights Village Board gave its early green light to two new development projects on Tuesday, though there was some disagreement on one.
The board unanimously approved the rezoning of the parcel at 1201/1203 E. Kingman -- from a residential to a business use – to make way for a gourmet popcorn and candy operation at what is commonly known as the Pump House, the former Heights waterworks property across the street from Tower Park.
Pete Clarno, the former manager of Oliver’s Pizza in the Heights, is to run the operation with his wife Linda and daughter Erica. He intends to sublet the property from Kim Blickenstaff’s KDB Group.
It will be “a mini-Willy Wonka chocolate factory,” said Pete Clarno. “I think it’s just a great addition to the neighborhood.”
How the property received residential zoning in the first place is something of a mystery, as it has never been a home. It was a municipal building from its construction in the 1930s, when the Heights had no zoning code at all. Forty years later, it got the R-2 designation. This vote corrects that “mistake,” said Trustee Elizabeth Khazzam.
The disagreement came over the site plan, which passed on a 4-2 vote, with Trustees Brandon Wisenburg and Diane Mariscal dissenting. Both took issue with the lease agreement with KDB Group, which now pays the Village $2,500 per month.
Village administration acknowledged that unintentional mistakes were made regarding the lease agreement, which evidently was signed in January 2019 before it was complete and ready, and perhaps with the collection of rent.
Nonetheless, Village Attorney Mark Walton maintained that it is still a valid lease, which Wisenburg questioned.
“There were no dates on the lease,” said Wisenburg. “How can we approve the use of the building before we even understand the lease? … It’s like no lease I’ve ever signed before. It just doesn’t make sense.”
KDB Group CEO Greg Birkland indicated there was some confusion regarding the lease initially, with attorneys on both sides still attempting to hash some things out.
“I’ve had a lot of different business ventures brought my way,” he said. “I’ve listened to the community … so we have backed away from any restaurants, any bars.” The popcorn and candy store is “a perfect marriage,” he added. If it were not to move forward, “I don’t know what else to do with it … It will sit vacant.”
Khazzam acknowledged that some neighbors are for the project, others against, but “I truly disagree with the … fear about this particular tenant.” It’s a “low-impact project” and “an adaptive reuse” of a historic property over which the Village still retains control. Vacancy is what “will potentially cause harm to the neighborhood,” she said.
Meanwhile, multiple conditions are being put on the property, including on the size and lighting of signage. Extensive landscaping will be required. The store will close by 8 p.m. on weekdays and by 9 p.m. on weekends. An exception will be made for special events that may run later, such as those at Tower Park. Maximum occupancy is about 40 people in both buildings.
Ultimately, the majority of the board concluded that the good of the investments Blickenstaff is making in the community outweighed any technical negatives regarding the lease, which do need to be corrected. A likely renegotiated contract – to reflect the difference in revenue potential between a restaurant and candy store – will be coming back for board consideration at a future meeting.
In other action, the board gave quick and unanimous approval to War Memorial/Paris Real Estate Trust for a special use and site plan to build an adult use cannabis dispensary in the 800-900 blocks of War Memorial Drive and Paris Avenue, next door to Super Liquors. The land is now an open field. The applicants are still awaiting a state license, but say they have a back-up plan in the event that is not forthcoming.
Finally, the board unanimously approved a special use permit to Professional Arm Transport, a transportation and security firm mostly staffed by retired police and military. They will be transporting marijuana products, but “there will be no cannabis on site … rest assured,” said co-owner Bill Engelbrecht.
The latest issue of the Heights Newsletter is now available.
Upwards of 150 people marched peacefully in Peoria Heights on Saturday to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, urging central Illinoisans to join a diverse national movement to alleviate racial injustice and work toward a better America.
Organizer Tanisha Cayson, 39, of Peoria Heights led the rally from the Peoria Heights Public Library on Glen Avenue to Village Hall and Tower Park on Prospect Road. Along the way, participants chanted “Black lives matter!” and “No justice, no peace!” Among the marchers was Peoria Heights Mayor Mike Phelan.
“I just could no longer sit back on my Facebook page, argue back and forth with people,” said Cayson, who approached Phelan and Village Administrator and Police Chief Dustin Sutton earlier this month about having the march. “It’s been a long time coming. I am so overwhelmed by the support.”
“Sometimes, we think it takes a lot of people to make change,” Phelan told the assembled crowd. “But one person can impact positively a lot of things. I want to commend Tanisha, one person who organized this entire event and pulled it off just like she said.”
Cayson’s pastor, the Rev. Tyson Parks of Peoria’s Bethel United Methodist Church, encouraged her to step up and to implement her vision.
“We have to bring back love,” Parks said later, seemingly heartened by the “sea of diversity” and the number of “bridge builders” he saw gathered in prayer, reconciliation and camaraderie at Tower Park. “I don’t want to sit up here and vilify all law enforcement because I was part of law enforcement. We need to hold one another accountable. We all are brothers and sisters … There’s one race, and that’s the human race. I need you and you need me. And together, we can make a difference.”
In addition to the mayor, Trustees Brandon Wisenburg and Diane Mariscal also were in attendance at the Tower Park event.
“The message of equality is important,” said Wisenburg, who brought his 5-year-old daughter, Olivia, along. “I don’t think we have a police brutality issue here in the Heights. I do think it exists. It’s important to take a stand against it, and for all of our rights.”
Saturday morning’s march concluded without incident or counter-protest, said Sutton. “Again, I’m just very proud of the people of Peoria Heights,” he said.
“I think we achieved our goal,” added Phelan. “As Americans, we have a right to peacefully protest, that was our expectation, and that’s what happened. I’m glad to work with everyone for peaceful change.”
The final numbers are in on Peoria Heights’ mortgage/lease loan program to help local businesses get over the hump of the coronavirus crisis, and they show that 82 businesses received more than $110,000 in assistance, an average of more than $1,280 apiece. The maximum grant was $1,500.
Village government launched the program in early May, with an application deadline of June 5. About 40 percent of the businesses eligible for the subsidy in the Heights’ two Business Development Districts (BDD), including those in the busy commercial corridors of Prospect Road and War Memorial Drive, received the assistance. Many had been largely shuttered since mid-March with much-diminished revenue streams, even as the bills kept coming.
“From what we’ve been able to gather anecdotally, it came just in the nick of time for many,” said Village Administrator Dustin Sutton, who called the effort a “resounding success.
“We’ve received quite a few compliments from our business leaders that Village leaders were willing to step up, to be a safety net, when their situations seemed most dire,” said Sutton.
Hearth owner Hugh Higgins estimated in a recent Tower Talk broadcast that his revenues were 80 percent off and that his restaurant was “clawing and scratching to eke out a living” when both his most loyal customers and the Village stepped into the breach.
“I couldn’t be happier than being in the Heights. It’s just such a wonderful place to do business and to have a business. It’s just explosive. It’s a great community to be a part of,” said Higgins.
“We’re still here.”
The overall breakdown of businesses that received help was 55 percent service industry such as restaurants, 41 percent retail, and the rest other, said Sutton.
The Village had been prepared to spend as much as $330,000, which came out of funds generated within the two BDDs rather than out of the general operating budget. The dollars left over now go back into the designated BDD accounts, which not only means that they’re available for their original intended purpose, but that the Village could respond to another emergency, if need be, though Sutton said he hopes it doesn’t come to that.
“We hope the worst of this is behind us,” he said, “but we’re prepared, just in case.”