Board retreat produces new goals, plan to achieve them, and renewed purpose

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The Peoria Heights Village Board emerged from a recent planning retreat with new vision and mission statements, strategic goals and an action plan, but most of all with a renewed sense of collective purpose.

Board members and other community leaders met with a facilitator – Peoria County Administrator Scott Sorrel – for several hours in June to discuss the community’s challenges and to come up with a framework for how best to address them. That planning session came on the heels of a long-term comprehensive plan adopted late last spring that was more than a year in the making and gives the Heights a blueprint for growth over the next 20 years.

“You plan the work and you work the plan,” said Mayor Michael Phelan. “With an abundance of local input, we now have a very good sense of where we’d like to take the community. We really feel like we’ve put ourselves in a good position and that we’re poised to accomplish some great things.

“I think many of us will look back on this moment 20 years from now with great pride in recognizing that this is where it all started.”

While the Heights has made great strides over the last several years, specifically in economic development and budget stability, the planning session and related due diligence did uncover multiple areas of concern. Among them are continued population loss, relatively high property taxes, income disparity, a dearth of housing inventory to meet market demands, a high percentage of rental property, a lack of neighborhood cohesion and identity, and the absence of an annual capital budget.

Generally speaking, board members emphasized that after years of concentrating on commercial growth, they would like to pivot to the residential neighborhoods and how to make them healthier.

To that end, the Village Board unanimously adopted a new vision statement on Saturday, Aug. 28, which reads as follows:

“The Village of Peoria Heights is the best small town to live, work, play, learn, grow a business, and stay. We are a thriving community.”

In practice, what that means is perpetuating a small-town atmosphere with big-city amenities, providing good value for residents’ investment in taxes, prioritizing infrastructure, keeping the Heights safe, embracing the arts, offering a greater array of housing choices, nurturing local businesses, prioritizing green space and recreational opportunities, preparing the leaders of tomorrow, and engaging residents with their government.

The Board also established goals, putting “strong neighborhoods” at the top, followed by a “thriving business community and economy,” citizen and customer focus, and partnering with other core stakeholders for community success.

Among the most immediate and concrete actions to come out of the planning session will be the hiring of a community development director to act as a liaison to the neighborhoods and a facilitator for their improvement. A top priority for that person will be to improve housing stock in the Village in order to attract families, young professionals and retirees, to increase enrollment in Peoria Heights School District 325, and to elevate property values. More aggressive pursuit of grant opportunities for housing rehabilitation purposes will be an essential part of that job. Another goal is the creation of more neighborhood associations with the idea of promoting safety, investment, better maintenance and brand identity.

In terms of economic health, getting a local hotel built is near the top of the Village Board’s list, as is an update of the zoning code to better communicate expectations to developers and extending the TIF and Business Development districts to the riverfront corridor along Galena Road.

On the partnership front, Village Hall wishes to pursue more dialogue with the school district, which is considered especially critical to the future of the Heights. Beyond that, fostering relationships with the upper Peoria Lake communities is off to a promising start and needs further attention.

Bridge to Bridge Festival coming to the Heights

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Peoria Heights is playing a prominent role in the inaugural Bridge-to-Bridge River Drive Festival on Sept. 18-19, with a full schedule of events including concerts, craft and art fairs, a pig roast and helicopter rides.

“Our demographic really is everybody,” said festival co-founder Julie Bielfeldt. “There is plenty to do for people of every age.”

Peoria Heights, Chillicothe, Lacon and Spring Bay are participating in the Saturday-Sunday event, which is intended to showcase the fun that can be had in these on-the-rise river communities, as well as the beauty of the natural landscape along Routes 29 and 26, part of the 52-mile scenic loop that joins them.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this first festival, and hopefully many more to come,” said Peoria Heights Mayor Michael Phelan. “I encourage people around the area to turn out to see not only what we in the Heights have to offer, but to check out our sister communities here in the beautiful Illinois River valley, as well. There has been a tendency to overlook some of us, but in fact these are not only great places to live, but great places to stay and play.

“Julie and Jane (Johnson) of the Peoria Heights Arts Collaborative really took the ball and ran with it here, and they deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve put together in a relatively short time frame. But the cooperation and collaboration between the communities on both sides of this wide river has been impressive. I think it can become a model for future endeavors of regional benefit.”

Below is a list of what the Heights has in store for the B2B weekend. Scan the QR code to the left with your cell phone camera to learn what’s happening in all of the communities.

Saturday, Sept. 18

  • Rummage Sale, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Peoria Heights Congregational Church, 4906 N. Prospect Road

  • Illinois River Sweep, 9 a.m. to noon, Forest Park Nature Center, 5809 N. Forest Park Drive

  • Illinois Valley Yacht Club Sail Race Watch, 9:30 a.m. to noon, IVY Club, 5102 N. Galena Road

  • Sidewalk tile painting, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Fired Up, 4532 N. Prospect Road

  • Illinois Art League Fair, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tower Park, 4901 N. Prospect Road

  • Sidewalk sale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
    Prospect Road and side streets, Downtown Peoria Heights

  • Craft show, ovarian cancer fundraiser – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 4611 N. Prospect Road

  • Helicopter rides by JMX, noon to dusk, parking lot of 4541 N. Prospect Road

  • “Stand Up in the Heights” comedy show, 7 p.m., Betty Jayne Brimmer

    Center for the Performing Arts, 1327 E. Kelly Ave.

  • Sneak peek “Taste of the Heights,” 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Heights Restaurant Row

  • Free concert by “Revels in Red,” 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Pour Bros. Craft Taproom at Heritage Square, 4450 N. Prospect Road

    Sunday, Sept. 19

  • Brunch with live Irish music by Bogside Zukes, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., W.E. Sullivan’s Irish Pub, 4538 N. Prospect Road

  • Farmers market hosted by Bear’s Bites Foundation, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 4615 N. Prospect Road

  • Craft show, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 4611 N. Prospect Road

  • Illinois Art League Fair, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,

    Tower Park

  • Classic Car Cruise, 11 a.m. to noon, start

    at Junction City Shopping Center, end at

    1200 E. Glen Ave. parking lot

  • Car show (modern, classics, antiques),

    noon to 3 p.m., 1200 E. Glen Ave.

  • Sidewalk tile painting, noon to 4 p.m.,

    Fired Up, 4532 N. Prospect Road

  • IVY Club Sunday Funday, noon to 5 p.m.,

    IVY Club, 5102 N. Galena Road

  • Soderstrom Castle Pig Roast (honoring

    Heights police and firefighters), noon to 6

    p.m., 4717 N. Grandview Drive

  • Antique car show, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 109 Fifth Street

“For some people, this is going to be a reintroduction to these river communities,” said Bielfeldt. “We think many will be pleasantly surprised by what they find, and we hope it prompts them to come back to visit year-round.

“Meanwhile, B2B offers a truly lovely, scenic drive, well worth the time on a lazy weekend afternoon.”

Follow Bridge-to-Bridge on Facebook and on the websites for the Peoria Heights Arts Collaborative and the Riverview Coalition.

New DIY jewelry shop opens in the Heights

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The newest entry into Peoria Heights’ mom-and-pop retail family is Curious Baubles, located inside the old Pabst Building on Prospect Road.

Owner Amanda Sears said she was a stay-at- home mom who’d been “making jewelry for a long time” and selling it at conventions, art fairs, farmers markets, etc., but that “cabin fever, COVID, convinced me to take the leap” and turn her passion into an occupation.

She specializes in providing vintage, “pre- loved” beads and other costume jewelry pieces that she’s picked up at estate sales and thrift stores – “some of this is 100 years old,” she said -- and then giving customers the space, tools and freedom to come in and let their imaginations be their guides.

Of course, there is ready-made jewelry available for purchase, but Curious Baubles is really a place where “it’s all you,” said Sears. “I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’ll just finish it up for you” by affixing the clasp for a necklace or whatever the case may be.

“I love custom. I love helping people out. There are no wrong answers here ... As long as there’s a table for you to sit, you can come in and just do it.”

She has started a bead club, and in time she hopes to host jewelry - making parties and workshops, with participants permitted to bring their own food and drink and make it an event worth sharing with friends. She also plans to have a mini-bead bar for children to come in and explore their creative side.

Sears opened in July, one day before her 41st birthday, because of a promise she had made to herself “to open my own business by 40.”

The Wisconsin native moved to the Peoria area with her husband, a doctor of psychiatry at OSF, eight years ago.

Finally, with one daughter in college and another about to start first grade, the time was just right to scratch that entrepreneurial itch she’d long had, and the Heights was her first choice as the place to do it. Fortunately, the Pabst space opened up just in time.

“It’s the walkability,” Sears said. “People come down here for an experience ... You can come to the Heights and paint pottery, have a martini, have dinner. You can make a day of the Heights. I want to be part of that bigger destination.”

Curious Baubles is open Tuesdays through
Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Learn more about the business at its website and follow Amanda & Co. on Facebook.

The Curious Baubles motto is “Love it. Wear it. Make it. Flaunt it,” and “it’s as much a playground for me as a job,” said Sears. “I just want to let people be themselves ... To express themselves, that’s the word.”

‘Bicycle Man’ Henry Jefferson declared a ‘Village treasure’

Legendary Heights resident Henry Jefferson, known far and wide as the “bicycle man,” has received a proclamation from the Peoria Heights Village Board for his contributions to the community as “an unforgettable character” and “official Village treasure,” with Mayor Michael Phelan delivering the tribute.

A team of Henry admirers – the mayor, Village Trustee Brandon Wisenburg, Richwoods Township Deputy Clerk Kim Jaegle, and a group from St. Thomas Catholic Church including Don and Jan Smith and Edie Brereton – greeted a surprised but grateful Henry at his current residence at St. Francis Woods Supportive Living Facility in Peoria on Aug. 4.

Henry, 92, expressed his appreciation for the recognition – “God bless you all” – shared tales of his adventurous life, and even serenaded the group on his beloved harmonica.

The proclamation reads as follows:

“Whereas Henry Jefferson atop his ever-present bicycle became an unforgettable character and always welcome fixture in Peoria Heights over many decades, one of the most recognizable faces in the entire Village ...

“Whereas Mr. Jefferson will celebrate his 93rd birthday in October, his longevity no doubt owing to the thousands upon thousands of miles he put on the pedals over those many, many moons ...

“Whereas Mr. Jefferson owns a famously independent spirit – a two-wheeler in a four-wheel world – is frequently quick with an opinion and always intent on going his own way, thereby keeping Village leaders on their toes in service to the community ...

“Whereas Mr. Jefferson was born in New York state along the scenic Hudson River, in a small town, Newburgh, where then-Gen. George Washington headquartered his Continental Army, making it only fitting that another picturesque river valley, this one in the Land of Lincoln – that other great president -- would become his ultimate home ...

“Whereas Mr. Jefferson was not only a role model of physical fitness but a fine guitar and harmonica player and sketch artist, no one job able to satisfy his creativity and sense of adventure ...

“Whereas Mr. Jefferson was a frequent visitor to St. Thomas Catholic Church near his home, often warming a pew in the afternoons, developing his own brand of spirituality, and meeting many a helping hand over the years among the parishioners whose lives he also enriched ...

“Whereas Mr. Jefferson is an avid gardener, making his little corner of the world – and Peoria Heights – a beautiful one in which he justifiably took great pride, which many of us would do well to emulate ...

“Whereas Mr. Jefferson has traveled far and wide, often as a hitchhiker making his way across the West to some of the most beautiful places in the nation, yet ultimately settled in the Village of Peoria Heights, a compliment in its own right ...

“We, the Village Board of Peoria Heights, hereby proclaim Henry J. Jefferson an official Village treasure as we continue to turn the Heights into a bicycle crossroads, inspired in part by the likes of our one-of-a-kind Mr. Jefferson. Henry, you have far more friends than you know.”

Water Main Break 1000 block of Moneta Ave

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Repairs are being made to a water main in the 1000 block of Moneta Ave. Residents in the surrounding area many experience a temporary disruption in water pressure and/or discolored water. The discolored water poses no health or safety risk and should clear up in a few hours. There is currently NO boil order in effect. If you have any questions or would like to request iron remover for stained laundry, please contact the Water Department at 309-686-2375, ext 1.

Village will enforce tougher rules on gas-powered bikes

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If you intend to dash around Peoria Heights in a gasoline-powered bicycle, from now on that privilege is going to cost you if you’re a Heights resident.

The Peoria Heights Village Board unanimously adopted an annual $500 registration fee for the motorized bikes, with Village Administrator Dustin Sutton making it abundantly clear that he is not a fan.

“This is complaint driven,” said Sutton, who doubles as the village’s police chief. “The reason why we’re even discussing this is that we have a big issue on Prospect with these bikes. They’re weaving in and out of cars, they’re down the sidewalks. I think people are tired of it.”

Meanwhile, their operators not uncommonly ignore traffic signals, and the vehicles are exceedingly loud, said Village Board members. 

“They’re not regulated and they’re not safe,” said Trustee Sarah DeVore. 

The police department wanted direction from the Village, as officers felt their hands were tied given the absence of a specific ordinance. Eventually, there will be a stairstep fine structure for traffic violations up to and including confiscation for repeat offenders.

Electric bicycles are not affected by the new regulations. Non-residents riding the gas-powered bikes through town can anticipate that they may be pulled over by police and asked to produce proof of licensing. 

In other action/discussion:

  • The Village Board created a new liquor license classification to accommodate a new dessert shop coming to the Heights that will serve alcohol-infused treats with a Mexican twist. Expect to see Fireball and margarita ice cream and slushies and champagne popsicles on the menu. “This is unique to central Illinois,” said Peoria attorney and co-owner Chris McCall.

  • The Village will draft a new ordinance to allow and regulate push carts selling food in the Village. McCall, who is involved with the Palarte Mexican Ice Cream shop, sought the action from the Village in order to operate on public property such as Tower Park and on private property with the permission of the owner. Mayor Michael Phelan advised that in fashioning the ordinance, the Village “be flexible” while “giving preference to brick and mortar” businesses.

  • An amendment to the Village Code is coming that will more stringently regulate the parking of boats, trailers and recreational vehicles on private property in the Heights. The Board deferred the issue to further address some concerns, but this has become a code enforcement issue for police and “we’re getting complaints,” said Sutton. Specifically, the Village is looking at a hard surface requirement and restricting such parking to side and back yards. “We need to really clean this up,” said Sutton.

  • After multiple compromises regarding size and setback, the Village Board approved the installation of a digital sign in front of the new State Farm office coming to the corner of Lake and Prospect streets, owned by Jake Davenport. The Village is in the process of rethinking signage regulations in the B-1 zoning district, which includes the Downtown.

  • The Village applied for a $550,000 grant through the Illinois Department of Housing and Economic Opportunity to help local homeowners with improvements to their properties and to revitalize the neighborhoods in which they live.

  • The Village issued a proclamation honoring local restaurateur/bar owner Greg “Gebby” Gebhards, who has operated Schooners in the Heights for 40 years. The mayor lauded the business owner’s generosity to staff, customers and people in need in the community. “It is a pleasure, mayor … to be here in Peoria Heights,” said Gebhards.