Zoning Board of Appeals will meet Monday, December 20, 2021

The Peoria Heights Zoning Board of Appeals will meet Monday, December 20, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. at Village Hall, 4901 N. Prospect Road, Peoria Heights, Illinois.

The purpose of the meeting is to consider the following request:

  1. Variance application filed by Steve and Stephanie Kool seeking approval of a variance to allow construction of a home with a front yard setback of 18.5 feet, which is less than the 25 foot setback required from abutting streets on a corner lot as required by Section 10-7A-5(A) of the Village Code, and a side yard setback of 4.8 feet, which is less than the 6 foot side yard minimum depth as required by Section 10-7A-5(B) of the Village Code, for the property located at 4777 N. Grandview Drive, Peoria Heights, Illinois, 61616 (PIN No. 14-22-428-001), which property is currently zoned R-1 (Low Density Residential District).

Additional documents and information are available at the Village Administrator's Office in Village Hall and/or by calling 686-2385.


Popcorn Works opens in Peoria Heights

Just in time for the candy-coated Christmas holidays, Popcorn Works and Sweet Shop is opening on Small Business Saturday – Nov. 27 -- in the historic former Pump House waterworks building in Peoria Heights.

“We’re ready to go,” said Pete Clarno, who owns and will run the business with wife Linda and daughter Erica Ogden at 1201 E. Kingman Ave., across the street from Tower Park in the shadow of the Heights’ most iconic feature.

The Clarno family is subletting the property from Kim Blickenstaff’s KDB Group, which in turn rents the structure from the Village of Peoria Heights. The two parties oversaw the renovation of the Depression- era Pump House, which was built in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) “with Roosevelt money.”

Many of the original features remain, though otherwise the building has been reinvented for the 21st century as “a mini-Willy Wonka chocolate factory,” said Clarno, giving it an utterly unique, updated but simultaneously retro feel.

Of course, what you can purchase there is the primary draw. Indeed, the irresistible aroma of fresh popcorn greets you before you even enter the store – more than 30 flavors and growing every day. This coming holiday season is well represented with the likes of Christmas Cookie, Grinch Pop, White Chocolate Peppermint, etc., no small amount of it popped after hours by the signature gnomes that populate – and before long, perhaps over-populate – the place. Don’t say you weren’t forewarned if you happen to trip over one. Expect a naming contest for the whole crew in the near future.

Meanwhile, coming to a Popcorn Works shelf near you is a virtual smorgasbord of gourmet candies, gummies, taffy, fudge, boba beads, Pixy Stix, etc. As the weather warms, expect shaved ice and
concession staples such as grilled hot dogs – might the “wonder dog” return? – nachos, and so much more, all of which can be enjoyed on the backyard patio.

“Parents hate me and dentists love me,” joked Clarno, who ultimately sees this as not just a place to satisfy one’s sweet tooth but as a community gathering spot, not unlike Velvet Freeze and the Ben Franklin store were in the Heights, once upon a time.

Anticipate lots of bicycles and baby strollers parked out front come next spring. Longtime Heights residents should recognize the Clarno name.

Pete grew up in the Heights, formerly managed Oliver’s Pizza and owned the gone-but-not-forgotten No Wake Zone Bar and Grill on Galena Road. He began his career in the golf industry, making his way through the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama before returning to central Illinois – “We wanted to raise our kids back here,” he said – as the golf course superintendent at Mt. Hawley Country Club, where he stayed 15 years. He still gets the urge to jump on a riding mower and start manicuring the fairways every now and again.

His family’s fondness for the popcorn he’d make at home prompted his comeback from retirement – that and the chance to put not only the mom and the pop in the business but a daughter and, someday, perhaps the grandkids as well. When word got out that the Clarnos were looking at potential locations, boyhood pal and Peoria Heights Mayor Mike Phelan called with an opportunity too good to pass up.

“This location is a dream,” said Clarno. “We had looked around. Nothing else fit. It’s a match made in heaven.”

Renovating a building of this age, and in a way so far afield from its original purpose, posed its challenges, but that patience has been rewarded.

“For the Village, it’s really a two-fer. A historic building that had been vacant has been brought back to life, and something that had been draining dollars from Village coffers is now generating revenue,” said Phelan. “The final product is attractive and functional. It’s just a plus all the way around.”

“It took a while, but I think we got it right,” said KDB Group CEO Greg Birkland. “A historic structure has not only been saved, it has been made useful again. The Clarno family and Popcorn Works are the perfect fit for this building and for this location.”

“It’s a nice project. I’m giving back to the community I grew up in,” said Pete Clarno, who opens the doors at 11 a.m. on Saturday and will also have a booth at the Heights’ inaugural Kris Kringle Market at Tower Park on Dec. 3. “Now’s the time to take what has been a negative year and end it on a positive note.”

So come for the goodies, come for the architecture, come for the company and conversation, come for the sights and sounds and aromas, come for the gnomes, just come to Popcorn Works and Sweet Shop. Follow the business on Facebook and on its website.

Sale of Excess Equipment 2021 Fire Dept

The Village of Peoria Heights is soliciting bids for the following equipment. Bids will be due no later than 5:00 pm on Friday, December 17th, 2021.  

1949 Seagrave Quad (no water tank)

1976 Ford/Howe Engine 1000 GPM pump and 500-gallon tank


Please send written offer to: 

Village of Peoria Heights

4901 N. Prospect Rd.

Peoria Heights, IL 61616


Minimum Bids in the Amount of $1,000


Questions may be emailed to administration@peoriaheights.org.

Heights hoping to do its part in helping the environment

Peoria Heights residents wishing to do the planet a favor and compost their table scraps and other biodegradable waste – keeping it out of area landfills – can now do so at a kiosk set up for that purpose in the Village center.

The Village, thanks to a recycling grant courtesy of Peoria County, is teaming up with East Peoria-based Better Earth Logistics to offer the composting kiosk. The latter is open 24-7 and located in the far northwest corner of the parking lot at the end of Seiberling Avenue, near the old Pabst water treatment facility.

To use the kiosk, residents must purchase a starter kit, which is $20.99 and available at Sous Chef in Peoria’s Warehouse District, 1311 SW Adams St., though Better Earth hopes to partner soon with a Peoria Heights business. The kit includes a card to access the otherwise locked kiosk – so as to prevent unauthorized dumping -- and 25 liner bags. Refill bags are $16.50, which covers the cost of pick-up, the frequency of which will depend on usage, at least once a week.

Items eligible for compost include many residential food products, among them meat, fish, bones, fruits and vegetables, along with cut flowers and some biodegradable paper products such as filters, tea bags, etc. As we are fully into the fall season, those leftover pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns also can be disposed of at the kiosk.

“I just hate seeing organic material going to the landfill,” said Luke Rosenbohm, who founded Better Earth Logistics with wife Yvonne a couple of years ago.

Why?

Because decomposing food, deprived of air in a landfill, creates methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, said Rosenbohm. Landfills account for an astounding 34 percent of all methane emissions in the United States, along with the potential they pose for soil and groundwater pollution.

Meanwhile, if what was once waste can now be put to safe, productive use in mineral-rich compost to replenish the soil, well, why not?

“If we’re going to sit there and say we have a problem with climate change ... one of the most basic things we can do is getting organic material out of landfills,” said Rosenbohm.

“I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of landfills, but we can definitely reduce the volume” of waste going into them, he said. “It’s pretty simple. Our great- grandparents used to do this all the time. Convenience got us out of the habit of doing the right thing.”

At the end of the day, the question to be asked is, “What’s better for our kids down the road?” The Rosenbohms answered it by merging their passion into a sustainable business model.

The kiosk in Peoria Heights joins others in Peoria, Washington, Bloomington and Illinois State University’s campus in Normal.

“We’re delighted to be a part of this effort,” said Peoria Heights Mayor Michael Phelan. “We greatly value our natural environment here in the Heights, and it’s important for all of us to help preserve and protect it for ourselves, today, and for future generations. It’s the only Earth we have. I hope our residents use this service.”