July Meetings

Champaign (calendar)

Meetings are held at the City Council Chambers ( or you can Live Stream or watch the videos later here) unless otherwise indicated. How to address the council information. 102 N. Neil St., Champaign (map)

Champaign Human Relations Commission: July 2nd @11am (Special Meeting - Nominating Committee Meeting: agenda)

Meetings are normally held on the 1st Monday of each month at 5:30 pm in City Council Chambers, 102 N. Neil St., Champaign.

Champaign City Council:

• Regular Meetings: July 3rd and July 17th @ 7pm
•  Regular meetings of the City Council are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers of the City Building, 102 N Neil Street, Champaign.  Regular meetings are used to conduct the legislative work of the City, including voting on Ordinances, Resolutions, holding public hearings, and approving expenditures.  Major items of legislation are often discussed in Study Session meetings prior to being voted on during a Regular Meeting.

• Study Session Meetings: July 24th @ 7pm (the July 10th date appears to be cancelled due to unavailability issues - will update if I hear otherwise)
•  Study Session meetings of the City Council are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers of the City Building, 102 N Neil Street, Champaign. Study Session meetings are used to engage in an in-depth analysis and discussion of a particular topic.  Informal polls are commonly taken by the Council to provide general staff direction on the subject being discussed, but no formal action is taken during Study Session meetings.  Study Session topics needing formal approval will be place on a subsequent Regular Meeting agenda for a Council vote.

Urbana (calendar)

Meetings are held at the Urbana City Council Chambers (links to agendas and videos here) unless indicated otherwise. Meeting brochure with protocols. 400 S. Vine St., Urbana (map)

Urbana Human Relations Commission: July 11th @ 5:30pm

The Commission holds regular monthly meetings on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. in the Urbana City Council Chambers. Special meetings may be held as deemed necessary. 

Urbana City Council:

• Regular Meetings: July 9th (rescheduled) and July 16th @ 7pm
•  The Council normally meets twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month at 7pm.
• Committee of the Whole Meetings: July 9th and July 23rd @ 7pm
•  The Committee of the Whole meets on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at 7pm.

The City Council establishes laws for citizen welfare, determines policies that govern providing municipal services and approves certain Mayoral appointments.

County Government: The Week Ahead posts

Auction for City Lots Delayed

From Friday's News-Gazette:

Auction for two Campustown lots delayed after only 1 bid received
On the fourth floor of the Illinois Terminal on Thursday, no one was gathered for an auction of two city-owned lots near the University of Illinois campus.

Louis Fisher, national director of SVN Auctions Services, was turning people away, letting them know that the auction had been delayed.

Only one qualified bidder had made an offer for the 0.53-acre grass lot at 207 E. Stoughton St., and no one bid for the 1.3-acre parking lot at 207 E. White St., about a block west of County Market...

Fisher said the auctioneers will now give a report to the city council, which will determine how to proceed.

Full article here. Background information from a previous Cheat Sheet post:

Champaign may be able to find more funding for its MCORE projects by selling property that never got developed after previous plans fell apart in the great recession. From today's News-Gazette:

For Champaign, there's gold in them thar Campustown lots
The land near the University of Illinois campus has become so valuable that a couple empty lots are now worth more than $5 million.

The city-owned lots a block west of the County Market grocery store in Campustown are expected to sell for more than that later this month at auction.

The 1.3-acre parking lot at 207 E. White Street has a market value of $3.59 million, Stephen Whitsitt wrote in a March appraisal of the land, and the 0.53-acre grass lot at 207 E. Stoughton St. has a market value of $1.57 million.

That's up from 2016, when the lots were valued at $2.99 million and $1.47 million, respectively...

"We always intended that they'd be developed. They were part of the agreement for Burnham 310, then the recession hit, so we pulled out of the development agreement," said Bruce Knight, the city's planning and development director.

The city is looking to sell them now to help pay for the $46.9 million Multimodal Corridor Enhancement project improving many of the Campustown streets.

The project is funded with a $15.7 million federal grant and matching local funds.

"We thought that with selling these, we could use some of that return to meet the local match requirements for MCORE," Knight said.

This will be the first time Champaign has auctioned a property.

"MTD did it with a couple properties and had some success, so we thought we'd give it a try," Knight said.

More details and information at the full article here. More on MCORE projects here.

It's possible (and my current theory) that any governmental get-rich-quick schemes described as "gold in them thar" may be doomed from the start.

Local School Roundup

In this roundup: Information about getting required school physicals, a potential Unit 4 water runoff agreement with the Champaign Park District, and Urbana school district's clinic arrangement.

First, getting those physicals! From Thursday's News-Gazette:

The Health Reporter Is In, June 28, 2018
...
All Illinois school children are required to show proof of school physicals and vaccinations when they're entering kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades. Entering high school seniors have a vaccine reporting requirement only.

Ideally, your child should be seeing his or her own doctor for school physicals, so parents, don't delay in making appointments, Akinyede urged.

"We advise parents to start calling in now," she said.

Most parents are likely aware that school and sports physicals aren't the same. Sports physicals focus on whether your child is in good enough health and physical condition to take part in sports.

Here are some dates for sports and school physicals through Christie Clinic and Carle. Take note, a parent or guardian must accompany the child for the exams:

CHRISTIE CLINIC

— School physicals from various doctors by appointment on Saturday mornings from June 30 through July 28.

— Sports physicals done by appointment with Dr. Scott Paluska through August.

— Sports physicals are also available through convenient care on a walk-in basis through August.

CARLE

— Walk-in sports physical clinics July 7 and Aug. 4, both at 1701 Curtis Road, C.

— Sports and school physicals by appointment or on a walk-in basis on two Saturday mornings, Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, at Carle's Family Medicine Residency Clinic on the main Urbana campus.

— Evening school physicals by appointment Aug. 7-9 and Aug. 14-16 at 1818 E. Windsor Road, U.

Check hours, locations and numbers to call for appointments at christieclinic.com or carle.org/services/pediatrics.

More at the full article here.

On Unit 4's potential water runoff deal with the Champaign Park District:

Unit 4 seeking stormwater runoff deal with park district for Centennial
The Unit 4 school district wants to use some Champaign Park District land north of Centennial High School to deal with stormwater runoff from the expanded Centennial as well as Tommy Stewart Field, newly covered with artificial turf.

Officials and contractors with Unit 4 appeared before the Champaign Park Board on Wednesday night to propose a stormwater-detention easement agreement between the districts.

Jim Miller, a civil engineer from Clark Dietz in Champaign, told park commissioners that additional stormwater detention — enough to hold 21 cubic feet of water — is needed for the high school expansion project. That amount is enough to handle a 100-year storm event, he said...

If the park board goes along with Unit 4's proposal, Miller said, construction of the detention basin would take place this summer and fall.

Champaign Park District Executive Director Joe DeLuce said the park board will likely consider the proposal at its July 11 meeting.

Full article here, including the Park board's unanimous vote to give its Executive Director a 2.75% pay increase.

And finally the Urbana school district clinic and the health care organization morphology (if you can follow it any better than I could):

Promise Healthcare takes over Urbana school district clinic
The Urbana School-Based Health Center has a new operator, Promise Healthcare.

The parent organization of Frances Nelson Health Center and SmileHealthy, Promise Healthcare took over operation of the school clinic from Crossing Healthcare of Decatur.

To help cover equipment and some transitional-programming costs for the school center, the United Way of Champaign County and the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois awarded a combined $24,185.

Crossing Healthcare is the new name of what was once Community Health Improvement Center, the former parent organization of Frances Nelson. The Decatur organization continued to operate the school clinic in Urbana after Promise Healthcare was formed locally to oversee Frances Nelson and SmileHealthy.

Promise Healthcare Executive Director Nancy Greenwalt said services at the school health center will remain about the same, but a mental-health provider is being added this summer.

Promise Healthcare has applied for a state grant to help fund the school clinic's operation costs for the school year, Greenwalt said.

MTD Budget Increase

Thursday's News-Gazette had some budget numbers for the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District from their most recent board meeting:

MTD board approves budget with $10.7 million spending bump
Employee raises, capital projects and a liability insurance increase will help push next year's spending plan for the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District up by about $10.7 million.

The MTD board unanimously approved a budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 that includes a total appropriation of $56.4 million — roughly 19 percent more than the current year's $45.7 million.

A public hearing preceding that action opened and closed rapidly when there weren't any comments offered.

Most of the budget increase is reflected in capital spending, according to MTD Managing Director Karl Gnadt. That's largely linked to the MTD's hydrogen-fuel-cell project, of which a Federal Transit Administration grant is covering $1.45 million of the cost, he said.

The MTD expects to take delivery of two no-emission, hydrogen-fuel-cell electric buses by early 2020, Gnadt said.

More details, like a 2.75% raise for everyone, fares being unchanged,  and a breakdown of other spending priorities at the full article here. A quick overview of the grant announced jointly by Congressman Rodney Davis and CUMTD last year here. More information on the hydrogen fuel cell project from its page at the Center for Transportation and the Environment.

Urbana Dockless Bike Rule Snag

Following up on movement on a C-U area wide dockless bike sharing program with the University of Illinois, Champaign, and preliminary moves from Urbana: Urbana has been delayed over wording issues it needs to resolve before it can join Champaign's earlier vote in support. From Tuesday's News-Gazette:

Urbana council delays vote on dockless-bike-share regulations
...
In the lead-up to approving dockless bike share, the council agreed that the parking regulations need to keep dockless bike riders from creating inconveniences for others.

Lorrie Pearson, a planning manager and zoning administrator with the city, said the vote was postponed because of some wording issues in the document.

The vote could come back to the council's next meeting on July 9, she said, or sometime after that.

Full blurb here.

Unit 4 Addressing Pushout

What is "pushout" and how can it be addressed in Unit 4 schools? From Tuesday's News-Gazette:

Unit 4 admins brainstorm ways to push back against 'pushout' of black girls
In one word, the problem is referred to as "pushout."

In more words, pushout is a term for a phenomenon in which young black girls and women are devalued because of deeply entrenched misconceptions, ones that usually relate to appearance or behavior.

It's not unique to Champaign, and it's not unique to schools — it happens everywhere — but some Unit 4 administrators wanted to see it addressed on both levels, so they called for a brainstorming session Monday night to push back against that cycle within the district...

Some women called for improved mentoring opportunities and experiences through school, ones that include matching multigenerational black women and girls. Others noted a need for relationship advice, like knowing the signs of abuse. Others focused on the classroom, pointing to a need to celebrate black women's achievements more often...

While several ideas operated on a personal-relationship level, such as mentoring, Pasha Trotter said she hopes systemic change is also in order.

"I think it's important that while we ask black women to do the labor, the system does the work," she said. "Is the system thinking about, 'What are the ways that we create or put burdens on black girls or on black educators?' What are the ways that schools are involved in creating the tensions and problems that surface through how we engage with our students, how we engage with our faculty and why black girls need to find someone in school to relate to."

More at the full article here. More on the concept of pushout in this article at The Atlantic:

The “good girl” and “bad girl” dichotomy, as chronicled by Monique W. Morris in Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, is a condition that has plagued black girls and women for time immemorial. Society’s deeply entrenched expectations of black girls—influenced by racism and patriarchy—has led to a ritual whereby these young women are often mischaracterized, and mislabeled because of how they look, dress, speak, and act. In short, black girls are devalued based on how others perceive them.

As evidence, Morris offers the historical account of a black teen named Claudette Colvin, who refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white passenger in March 1955 before Rosa Parks made history with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Colvin was seemingly an ideal role model against segregated busing—she was an A student who had studied Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Jim Crow racial injustices. Yet Colvin was feisty and argued with the white policeman before getting arrested. She was also working-class, dark-skinned, and pregnant. According to elders within Montgomery’s black community and others, these factors, taken all together, made Colvin unsuitable as a standard-bearer for the civil-rights movement.

This inclination to judge and condemn black girls is also seen in recent examples that sparked national outrage, including Kiera Wilmot, the 16-year-old Florida girl expelled for a harmless science experiment; Dajerria Becton, the 15-year-old girl tossed and pinned to the ground by a McKinney, Texas, police officer during a pool-party squabble; and Shakara, the 16-year-old girl dragged out of her seat and thrown across a South Carolina classroom over a cell phone.

As Pushout documents, these are hardly isolated cases. The stigmas many attach to black girls has far-reaching and damaging consequences, Morris writes, with devastating effects on their academic, social, and emotional lives. A veteran education, civil-rights, and social-justice scholar, Morris is the co-founder of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, a group dedicated to combatting disparities affecting black women, girls, and their families. She recently shared some thoughts with The Atlantic on interventions to help black girls in schools. The interview that follows has been edited lightly and condensed for clarity.

The full article at The Atlantic is available here. Local school discipline and racial disparity data is available at a recent Cheat Sheet post here.

New Champaign Park Approved

The Champaign Park District recently approved a bid to develop a new park near the new Judah Christian School which could be open by the end of the year. From Monday's News-Gazette:

Bid's OK clears path for Commissioners Park
...
In 2011, the park district essentially traded 6.4 acres at Dodds to the developers of the Parkland Point Apartment complex in exchange for 20 acres on Champaign's far west side. That land is directly north of Abbey Fields and northwest of the future site of Judah Christian School...

The current plan calls for maintaining 15 of the 20 acres as a natural area and developing five acres for park amenities.

Features at Commissioners Park will include a soccer field with goals, a sand play area, a picnic shelter and playground equipment. Development will also include a concrete walk and curb, grass, trees and shrubs.

The recreational area is being named Commissioners Park to honor anybody who has spent time as a Champaign Park District commissioner over the years.

More at the full article here.

Local Blurbs: Urbana and Unit 4

The News-Gazette had a couple quick updates on building permits in Urbana and various referendum projects for Unit 4 on Friday:

Urbana Building Permits

Urbana homebuilding permits nearly triple
So far this year, nearly three times as many one- and two-family building permits have been issued for Urbana as last year.

Urbana has had 33, Champaign 35, Savoy 27 and Mahomet 24, according to data compiled by Libby Horwitz, economic development coordinator for Urbana.

She pulled the permit numbers from listings in each Sunday's business section of The News-Gazette, which receives the listings from each of the cities.

At this point last year, Champaign had 98 one- and two-family new construction permits, Mahomet had 35, Savoy 34 and Urbana 12.

Urbana officials are crediting the increase to their Think Urbana tax incentives, which reduce property and sales taxes on new homes built in Urbana's enterprise zone.

More at the full article here. 

Unit 4 Referendum Projects Updates

Extreme makeover, Unit 4 schools edition
With high school football season kicking off two months from Sunday, construction continues at the shared sports home of Centennial and Central, including the conversion to artificial turf for Tommy Stewart Field and an all-new Harold Jester track...

SOUTH SIDE: Costs, plans tweaked

DR. HOWARD: Move over, PACA onsite

BURNHAM: Countdown clock at 23 days

More at the full article here.

Area Unemployment in May

From last Friday's News-Gazette:

Unemployment rate down again in May in area, statewide
The unemployment rate continued to drop in May compared with a year ago in Champaign and Vermilion counties, and around the state.

In Champaign County, the rate reached 3.6 percent last month, down from 3.8 percent a year ago...

In the Champaign-Urbana metro area, non-farm employment grew by 1,300 jobs compared to a year ago. Government added 900; education and health services added 600; professional and business services added 200; financial activities added 200; and transportation, warehousing and utilities added 100. Meanwhile, wholesale trade lost 300 jobs; retail trade lost 200; manufacturing lost 100; and leisure and hospitality lost 100.

More at the full blurb here.

Bees and Pollinators

On an issue that couldn't be much more in the wheel house of Champaign County is the intersection of agriculture, environmentalism, science, alternative energy, and politics... through bees and other pollinators. From an article about a U of I Pollinatarium event from last Friday's News-Gazette:

UI Pollinatarium raising funds with buzzworthy 'Bee-zaar'
...
Pollinators transfer pollen and seeds from one flower to another, fertilizing the plant so it can grow and produce food. It's estimated that a third of the world's crop production and 90 percent of wild plants depend on pollinators...

On May 30, the Illinois General Assembly unanimously approved Senate Bill 3214, a "pollinator-friendly" solar energy bill encouraging the creation of habitat for bees, butterflies and other pollinators at solar sites.

The UI Department of Entomology's Adam Dolezal, a honeybee expert, helped design a scorecard for designating a solar facility as "pollinator-friendly," based on similar efforts in Minnesota and Michigan, Berenbaum said.

Typically installed on farmland, solar installations affect the biological community there and can deprive beneficial species, including pollinators, of important resources, she said.

But energy farms and pollinators are compatible if the right vegetation is planted — not just flowers, but habitat suitable for nesting and over-wintering, she said...

Over the next year, in time for the Pollinatarium's 10th anniversary, Berenbaum would like to see Champaign-Urbana earn a "Bee City USA" designation, by signing on to a pledge to create pollinator-friendly environments in the city...

The city of Urbana is already a signatory to the National Wildlife Federation's Mayors' Monarch Pledge, an effort to save the dwindling monarch butterfly population, said Scott Tess, Urbana's environmental sustainability manager. The city maintains butterfly gardens at the Urbana Free Library and elsewhere with milkweed and other flowering plants that support Monarch butterflies, he said.

The city also partners with Midwest Grows Green, which promotes natural lawn care practices as opposed to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The UI is already in the process of becoming a "Bee Campus USA," spearheaded by students in the Sustainability Living and Learning Community this past year, said campus sustainability coordinator Morgan White.

More at the full article here, including more information about last Saturday's event.

Area Blood Shortage and Drive

There's an area blood shortage as we approach the July 4th holiday. Here's the full blurb from yesterday's News-Gazette:

Blood donations urged as two products run critically low
Two blood products used by area hospitals are at critically low levels, and donors are needed especially in the days before the July 4 holiday, according to Community Blood Services of Illinois.

The agency called on all eligible donors to step up, saying the supplies of type O and type B red cells have reached critical levels.

The blood center typically experiences a significant drop in donations during the summer, according to Amanda Hess, director of donor relations.

"There are weeks we collect 1,000 fewer units than we normally do in the spring and fall, especially surrounding the summer holidays," she said.

Donations of all blood types and products are needed, but inventories of type O-negative, O-positive, B-negative and B-positive red cells, along with all types of platelet products, are the most urgently needed before July 4, the agency said.

To schedule a donor appointment at a Community Blood Services of Illinois center or mobile blood drive, call 800-217-4483. More information on blood drives is at bloodcenterimpact.org.

Web article here. Additional information on local blood donations here: https://www.bloodcenter.org/home.aspx

Fab Lab Summer Camp and Local Collaboration

An amazing local collaboration resulted in access to a high tech summer camp for Urbana kids. From the News-Gazette Wednesday:

Grant lets C-U Fab Lab bring cutting-edge summer camp to Urbana kids
...
A cutting-edge summer camp offers chances to play "Minecraft," program computers and use 3-D printers. But, often, chances like this come with a price tag.

Jeff Ginger knows. As the director of Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab — short for fabrication laboratory — he's watched as his University of Illinois-sponsored camps draw a similar able-to-pay crowd every summer.

"One of the downsides of these camps is that they tend to be kids that are home-schooled or kids that have access to the university," he said. "We wanted to get out of the university and into other populations."

This year, Ginger and other Fab Lab affiliates didn't go very far: They took their programming to the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center and organized two, two-week summer camps around space and computer technology...

Since the camp's equipment — computers, 3-D printers and a router, among other items — came from an Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband grant, all of it will remain at UNCC after the camps formally end, meaning Daniels and other kids can pick up right where they left off.

Ginger would like to see the camps' programming expand into classrooms, but noted there are all kinds of "structural barriers," like a class having 30 students and one teacher, or only a half-hour to try to implement technology like Champaign-Urbana Fab Lab offers. If it can't expand via classroom, Ginger said after-school and summer sites become integral for accessibility...

For Ginger, the summer camps represent at least two things. First is the power of local collaboration.

"Janice Mitchell (the director of UNCC) provided the space and UC2B provided the grant," he said. "It wasn't entirely just the university coming in and setting this up."

And second, responsiveness to what kids actually want.

More at the full article here. More information about the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center here, the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab here, and Urbana Champaign Big Broadband here.

City of Champaign Updates

Following up on a previous post on the City Council meeting and also a Midtown development. From the News-Gazette the Wednesday on the council meeting:

Champaign council approves sweeping rule changes for parking lots
Sweeping changes to regulations regarding city-owned parking lots were approved nearly unanimously at Tuesday's Champaign City Council meeting.

Council member Clarissa Nickerson Fourman, the lone dissenter, said she believes the beefed-up rules will only push unwanted activity into other parking lots.

Tuesday's vote creates official language prohibiting activities that aren't related to parking — such as alcohol consumption, gambling, littering and selling products or services — in city-owned lots and metered spaces.

Fourman said the presence of that kind of parking lot activity is due in part to a lack of activities for young African-Americans...

In other business

— The council accepted a $250,000 grant from the state to reimburse the police department for its purchases of officer body cameras and in-car video equipment. The department budgeted $551,733 in 2016 for 35 in-car camera systems, 125 body cameras, a digital management system and accessories.

— Members finalized an agreement that allows the Bristol Place affordable housing development to start construction. Neighborhood services director Kerri Wiman said the plan is to have a ground-breaking ceremony in mid-July.

— The council raised the city's administrative purchasing limit from $17,500 to $35,000. The limit was last revised in 2003, according to a city staff report.

More at the full article here. And in a follow up on the Midtown development, the News-Gazette had more information yesterday:

Midtown Crossing developer details his wish list for complex
By this time next year, Midtown could have a new brewery, distillery and restaurant.

Those, along with 10 upscale apartments, are all part of bar owner Scott Cochrane's plans for his Midtown Crossing project at Chester and Water streets.

"Midtown's going to have growth," Cochrane said. "I've always loved Chester Street, that two-block area, and then the opportunity came up."

In the past two years, he and his companies have bought three of the four properties at that intersection for a combined $1.57 million.

The southeast corner, where the former Chester Street Bar was located, is expected to be the first of the three to open to the public, Cochrane said.

He wants to make that a brewery with a taproom and five apartments, and he's planning to open the brewery this year...

Across Chester Street in the Avenue Building on the northeast corner of the intersection, Cochrane wants to build five "turn-of-the-century" apartments on the second floor and make the first floor a restaurant/bar.

On Tuesday, the Champaign City Council approved $300,000 in redevelopment grants to reimburse Cochrane for his $1.67 million plan to renovate the building.

"I don't know the concept yet" of the restaurant, said Cochrane, who also owns the Campustown bars Red Lion, Firehaus and the Clybourne.

More details, before and after concept drawings, and an overview map at the full article here.

City Budget News

Champaign and Urbana City Councils have been and are working on their budgets. The News-Gazette had a few articles recently with details. The fine print: C-U budgets today laid out various costs and inlays each city is expecting to receive for things like hotel taxes or liquor fees, and outlays for law enforcement. Also today they had an overview of the budget items approved in Urbana last night:

Urbana council approves budget that seals civic center's fate
The city council gave final approval to the upcoming fiscal year's proposed budget Monday, sealing the Urbana Civic Center's fate for closure on Dec. 31.

In total, the budget includes cuts and other efforts to secure about $600,000 in savings for Urbana's general operating fund deficit of about $2.5 million.

After the state budget impasse caused Urbana to lose about $500,000, and as the Carle Foundation Hospital property-tax case continues, Mayor Diane Marlin said the city needs a few years of saving money...

In addition to addressing the deficit, the budget goals include fully funding police and fire pensions, rebuilding financial reserves (or "rainy-day funds"), growing the tax base and starting long-term plans to repair and maintain public infrastructure. The infrastructure work will kick off after a facility planning study, which will recommend what to do with the vacant civic center, is complete.

Other cuts in the budget include reducing Urbana Free Library funding by $55,400 annually, absorbing a vacant fire-prevention inspector position that costs around $35,000 annually, and city department line-item reductions that total $75,000. The city will also continue its voluntary separation agreement for nonunion employees, which started last year.

In other business, aldermen also gave final approval to setting up an intergovernmental agreement that allows dockless bike sharing in Urbana, Champaign and at the University of Illinois.

More at the full article here. More on the dockless biking in previous Cheat Sheet posts here. There was a preview of Champaign's City Council meeting in yesterday's paper that mostly dealt with parking lot rules needing clarification:

There aren't rules on the city's books about prohibited activities in city-owned parking lots and metered spaces, but that could be changing soon.

The Champaign City Council plans to vote Tuesday on creating formal guidelines for what people can't do in those areas. Included in the proposal is mainly anything that's not related to parking, such as alcohol consumption, gambling, littering and selling products or services.

More at the full article here. There was also an article this weekend highlighting a midtown project that'll be voted on tonight as well:

The Champaign City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to chip in $300,000 in Redevelopment Incentive Program grants.

It's part of a project called Midtown Crossing, at the corner of Water and Chester streets a block east of the railroad tracks and just south of University Avenue.

More details on that at the full article here.

Mowing Rules

It varies a bit from city to city, but if you aren't able to keep up, it could cost you. From the News-Gazette on Sunday:

Are local municipalities' grass-height codes really cut and dry?
...
Both Champaign and Urbana require homeowners to keep their grass height to 8 inches. That includes grass on the parkway — the area between the sidewalk and the street that is technically public property but the homeowner's legal responsibility to mow.

"We always encourage people to have a managed landscape plan, which can be as simple as keeping the grass cut on a 10-day cycle," said David Oliver, Champaign's code-compliance manager...

There are also rules for what can be planted — or allowed to grow — on parkways. Flowers and shrubs on parkways, for example, aren't allowed to grow taller than 24 inches in Champaign, though shrub blooms can reach 36 inches in blooming seasons.

When Champaign sends a warning letter about overgrown grass or weeds, the property owners have 10 days to take care of it, Oliver said. If the owners take care of the problem within the 10 days, then it's case closed.

Homeowners who simply can't get their grass cut within 10 days can ask for extensions and often get them, Oliver said.

Urbana gives property owners seven days to respond to warning letters before it sends out contractors to do the mowing and bills the homeowners, according to Jason Arrasmith, Urbana's environmental compliance officer."

Full article here. More information from the City of Champaign nuisance code here. The relevant Urbana City Code is here and here.

Champaign Zoning Changes

Zoning rule changes were discussed at last night's City of Champaign Council study session. Excerpt from today's News-Gazette:

The five zoning districts span an area roughly from Columbia Street on the north to John Street on the south and Randolph Street on the east to Prospect Avenue on the west, as well as an area extending south along Randolph, State and Prairie streets to Avondale Avenue...

Among the changes is requiring that a building's footprint be a certain size so a small lot isn't being stuffed with a big building or an inconsistently big building being put on a large lot. Kowalski said the footprint accounts for a building's perimeter, including any attached garage.

Also included in the changes is renaming two of the five zoning districts to reduce confusion and requiring that new developments follow certain external design requirements. Those include not allowing motel-style balconies and requiring that building materials be true brick, stone, wood or fiber cement.

Some members of the working group of residents said the changes are generally good but could be tweaked. There was concern that the zoning regulations weren't being changed enough.

More at the full article here. More at the agenda web page and their progress report here. There's a map in that PDF file as well as a picture below (click to enlarge):

Urbana to Vote on Dockless Bikes

Following up on movement on a C-U area wide dockless bike sharing program with the University of Illinois, Champaign, and preliminary moves from Urbana: Urbana will be voting tonight to join Champaign's earlier vote in support. From today's News-Gazette:

Urbana council set to vote on deal to allow dockless bike sharing
The city council will vote tonight on an intergovernmental agreement to allow dockless bike sharing throughout town.

The agreement is between Urbana, Champaign and the University of Illinois.

If approved, dockless bike share companies will have to follow regulations for operating in each area.

Dockless bike share companies provide rental bike rides.

When riders are finished, they park the bike in certain areas around town — instead of on specific docking infrastructure that would need to be installed.

Each company has a smart phone app that riders use to locate a bike, unlock it and pay for a ride.

Each bike is equipped with a GPS tracker and locking mechanism on the back wheel.

People without smart phones can call the company — a phone number will be displayed on the bike — and have an employee sent over to unlock the bike in person.

The Champaign city council already approved dockless bike sharing at the end of last year.

Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin said the plan is to have it set up in each city by the start of the upcoming school year. When Urbana council members first discussed the activity in April, there were some concerns.

Full article with more details here.

Summer Meals Program

[UPDATE: Parkland College has also established Summer Meals program location. More on that at the News-Gazette here along with an updated listing of times and locations: Parkland College site added to free summer-lunch program.]

The Summer Meals Program will be available at local schools and the public health district building for kids who might miss out when school is out of session. Dates and times for meal options at Champaign schools here and at Urbana schools here. From the News-Gazette recently:

C-U Public Health District's summer-meal program for kids starts Tuesday
Summertime brings a temporary halt to food service at area schools, but a program hosted by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District will again pick up the slack starting Tuesday.

Sponsored by the Illinois State Board of Education, the summer-meal program will offer free breakfasts and lunches for kids ages 1-18, regardless of where they live or how much money their families earn.

The meals will be served in the lobby of the public health district building at 201 W. Kenyon Road, C.

Breakfast will be served from 9-11 a.m. and lunch will be available from 12:30-2:30 p.m. on weekdays through mid-August.

Full article here. Dates and times for meal options at Champaign schools here and at Urbana schools here at their respective websites.


[Originally posted 5/26/2018 at 12:32pm]

Urbana Middle School Deans Going Too

Recently there has been data on racial disparity in punishment in our local schools that has backed up other studies and data showing that even for the same offenses, some minority students are punished more often and more harshly. More at the recent Cheat Sheet post: Education Racial Disparity Data. Urbana had recently moved to change their discipline system from a dean style system to a restorative practices system (see Urbana Deans Update post here). Well there's also movement at the middle school towards the same, and the push back isn't just local. From today's News-Gazette:

Urbana school board OKs plan to eliminate deans at middle school, too
Nearly two months removed from a controversial roll-out that shocked many parents, teachers and community members, the Urbana school board approved another sweeping discipline change for the district Tuesday, this time at the middle-school level.

Similar to a plan OK'd May 15 that erased dean positions at Urbana High School, board members on Tuesday approved a proposal that would also eliminate the middle school's dean positions while adding an assistant principal, three student-engagement advocates, two clinical professionals and a social worker.

The dean positions are being eliminated in an attempt to address what are seen as racial disparities in outcomes resulting from the schools' disciplinary systems.

Joseph Wiemelt, who received board approval Tuesday as the new Urbana Middle School principal, told board members the plan creates a system that is more proactive toward student behavior than what was previously in place.

"The proposal before you allows more trained and licensed staff to support teachers in the classroom," he said. This is "a model that better addresses student behaviors and needs while ensuring there are consequences when needed."

More details, including another newly approved hire, at the full article here. The push back at the high school level appears to be happening nationally as well. The commission formed to deal with school safety after the school shooting in Florida isn't addressing guns, but it is looking at possibly rescinding Obama era reform efforts on racial disparity in discipline. From the New York Times yesterday:

The commission’s members include Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. It is charged with bringing “meaningful and actionable recommendations to keep students safe at school.”

Among other areas, the commission is slated to examine ratings systems for video games, the consumption of “violent entertainment” and the effects of news media coverage of mass shootings. The group is also charged with considering whether to repeal a package of Obama-era school discipline policies targeted at addressing disciplinary policies that disproportionately affect minority students. The commission is also looking to fund and bolster mental health and school infrastructure resources.

More at the full article here.

Downtown Plaza Follow-up

In a follow-up to yesterday's preview of the City of Champaign Council meeting, the News-Gazette had more information on ideas around the downtown plaza planning:

Champaign council members like what they see so far on downtown plaza
...
An examination of public input about the plaza proposal identified several recurring themes, according to city staff, which said much of the input was focused on having a space that is flexible; arts focused; able to host programs and entertainment; and that allows for local entrepreneurship.

No financial specifics were presented Tuesday, so some council members asked for those to be included when the project is reviewed again in August.

Senior city planner Lacey Rains Lowe told city council members that most of the options already available downtown require money to experience. But she said a plaza would be the opposite, which could create better representation of ages, cultures and financial backgrounds in the downtown area.

Councilman Matt Gladney said he initially didn't see the use for a plaza because the city has West Side Park nearby. But, he said, then he saw plazas doing well in other cities and considered a park's use for mainly nature-related purposes.

More details and quotes at the full article here.

Urbana Council Meeting 6/4

The Urbana City Council voted to reduce the speed limit on a portion of road through campus where a pedestrian was hit last fall (possibly due to not being careful) and addressed a few other items last night at their City Council meeting (agenda and video here). Here's a quick excerpt from today's News-Gazette coverage:

Urbana council approves lowering speed limit on Lincoln near Campustown
Gray said the city did a study last year on Lincoln, reviewing crash data, daily traffic data and public comments since 2014.

In the short term, the study recommended the changes to the speed limit and installation of pedestrian signs. In the long term, it recommends that the city fund additional infrastructure improvements by applying for a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant.

The goal is to get that grant in 2019, Gray said. It would fund new street features like center medians and bumpouts at intersections, which shorten the amount of street a pedestrian has to cross.

In other business:

— Council members approved development of a new apartment building at 1007 W. University Ave. The location is currently home to a Niro's Gyros restaurant.

Green Street Realty intends to replace the existing one-story building with a five-story one. It's slated to have commercial space on the bottom floor with apartments above.

— Members voted against replacing the brick sidewalk on Anderson Street between East High and East Green streets with concrete. There have been several public comments on the issue, many of them against using concrete.

More information at the full article here.

Champaign City Council Preview

The Champaign City Council meeting tonight (agenda here and information on attending here) will be addressing the upcoming downtown plaza and design ideas. From today's News-Gazette:

Champaign council to review options for downtown plaza
More pop-up eateries. Less of a "party culture."

Those were among the many likes and dislikes expressed by the public for the multiuse plaza coming to downtown Champaign.

Tonight, the city council will review design and programming options for the project, which is planned for the approximately football-field-sized parking lot at the corner of Neil and Washington streets. Last spring, the council greenlit the idea for the lot, which the city owns and is working with the Ohio-based MKSK consulting firm to plan out.

The options up for review were gathered from an advisory committee and input from stakeholders and the public. Senior City Planner Lacey Rains Lowe said more public input will be collected after tonight's meeting, including at summer events like the farmers market.

Preferences that have emerged as themes, according to a council report, include:

— Space that ought to be "flexible, have variability and leisure, seasonality and identity."

— An arts focus. "Public art and arts and educational expansion should be featured."

— Activation. "Programming and entertainment is essential to the success of the space."

— Entrepreneurship. Elements "like the farmers market, artisan markets and small business incubator programs enhance the existing business mix." 

More information and details at the full article here.

Unit 4 Oversight Committee Meeting

Last night there was a meeting of Unit 4's Referendum Oversight Committee whose goal is "to oversee the work of the project team at a high level and ensure community stakeholders and community members have a voice in the decisions being made as the design and construction projects proceed." From today's News-Gazette:

Growing Unit 4 referendum committee weighs in on Dr. Howard

...
Nine new members joined the previous six-member team to review the progress on the Champaign school district's varied multimillion-dollar construction projects.

Among the concerns raised Monday by the 15 committee members about the district's architectural, financial and construction processes:

— Stormwater drainage in the Dr. Howard neighborhood.

— Zoning discrepancies.

— The decision to make Dr. Howard a three-strand school...

Although Monday's presentation was light on financial detail, Unit 4 Chief Financial and Legal Officer Tom Lockman told the group that the next meeting would include more of that.

"The next time we meet, we will have much more significant information in terms of how we are tracking cost, how we are tracking arbitrage and how we are maintaining consistency on our budget processes," he said.

Keeping watch

With a $1.7 million budgeted bump in the cost of turning Dr. Howard Elementary into a full three-strand, K-5 facility, the total cost of Unit 4's six-school, two-fields project stands at $210.1 million. That includes $25 million from district reserves "and other available capital improvement funding sources as needed."

More details and additional information at the full article here.

Champaign Lots Could Help Fund MCORE Projects

Champaign may be able to find more funding for its MCORE projects by selling property that never got developed after previous plans fell apart in the great recession. From today's News-Gazette:

For Champaign, there's gold in them thar Campustown lots
The land near the University of Illinois campus has become so valuable that a couple empty lots are now worth more than $5 million.

The city-owned lots a block west of the County Market grocery store in Campustown are expected to sell for more than that later this month at auction.

The 1.3-acre parking lot at 207 E. White Street has a market value of $3.59 million, Stephen Whitsitt wrote in a March appraisal of the land, and the 0.53-acre grass lot at 207 E. Stoughton St. has a market value of $1.57 million.

That's up from 2016, when the lots were valued at $2.99 million and $1.47 million, respectively...

"We always intended that they'd be developed. They were part of the agreement for Burnham 310, then the recession hit, so we pulled out of the development agreement," said Bruce Knight, the city's planning and development director.

The city is looking to sell them now to help pay for the $46.9 million Multimodal Corridor Enhancement project improving many of the Campustown streets.

The project is funded with a $15.7 million federal grant and matching local funds.

"We thought that with selling these, we could use some of that return to meet the local match requirements for MCORE," Knight said.

This will be the first time Champaign has auctioned a property.

"MTD did it with a couple properties and had some success, so we thought we'd give it a try," Knight said.

More details and information at the full article here. More on MCORE projects here.

Student Housing Update

A couple days ago we just had a post on the fact that Champaign and Urbana have an abundance of expensive student housing and very little availability for low income and the working poor. Add to that today's news that the Housing Authority is selling Skelton Place, currently used to provide affordable housing to a realtor that plans on turning it into student housing. From Yesterday's News-Gazette:

Housing authority's Campustown complex to become student apartments
...
The Housing Authority of Champaign County is selling its former Skelton Place facility to Green Street Realty and has been moving residents to new locations.

"We sold it to Green Street Realty for $5 million," said David Northern, the housing authority's CEO. "It was used for traditional public housing, built in 1967, with 84 units. It was a mixed-used building with seniors and people with special needs."

Green Street Realty plans to convert the eight-story building at 302 S. Second St., C, to student apartments, owner Chris Saunders said...

The housing authority sold Skelton Place to help finance a new building it's constructing on the north end of town near Interstate Drive and Toalson Lane.

"That will start in the fall, with an 18-month build-out period," Northern said. "We will have 96 senior units and 24 permanent supportive housing units for individuals with special needs."

More at the full article here.

Student Housing Overbuilt

In the ongoing issue of affordable housing in Champaign and Urbana, there never seems to be a shortage of new expensive student housing projects. The News-Gazette highlights the issue today:

Construction underway on another Campustown apartment complex
A Rhode Island developer is building a seven-story, 538-bed luxury apartment building near Campustown that it hopes to open in the summer of 2019.

Meanwhile, local developers with student housing projects nearby are worried the market is oversaturated, with Gilbane Development Co.'s project just the latest in a long line of others like it.

"The market's overbuilt. Anybody with half a brain can see that, so you got to pick and choose your spaces really carefully," said Dan Hamelberg, developer of the Midtown Plaza, which has 104 units...

"We're seeing the tail end of a lot of this," Saunders said. "We have a few more projects scheduled, but I think there's not a lot of available land. There might continue to be some smaller projects."

Hamelberg said local developers are starting to slow things down.

"Local developers and local banks know what's going on," he said. "The time has come for people who are outside of our market to realize that we have a vacancy rate, and it will go higher if you come in with a couple hundred more units."

While Hamelberg thinks there are too many apartments right now, he's still optimistic about the market, as UI enrollment keeps growing.

"We'll get through this, and we've been through these waves before," he said. "With the University of Illinois growing ... over time, the supply-and-demand curve will fall back in line."

More at the full article here with various details on the luxury apartments recently and planning to be built. It's worth mentioning this CU-CitizenAccess article about the housing crisis for low income families in the area, however:

According to data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition in 2017, there are less than 35 affordable and available homes for extremely low income households in Champaign, one of the lowest numbers in Illinois.

Local Opportunity Zones

Part of the new tax law includes opportunity zones where there are tax incentives to invest in underserved areas. From WAND yesterday:

Davis touts 'Opportunity Zones' provided by tax law

Congressman Rodney Davis gathered with Decatur officials to tout the designation of several Central Illinois communities as opportunity zones.

The designation, allowed under the 2017 Federal Tax Law, gives tax incentives for investments in distressed communities.

“Areas of our country that have a lot of extra capital to invest are looking for incentives to be able to get a return on that investment,” Davis said. “Now we're going to give them a better return on that investment by not charging them capital gains taxes or reduced capital gains tax rates.”

Link to this blurb and the video segment that aired here. You can click the map above to see the full size image or check out the full interactive map at the resources page linked in the article here.

June Meetings

Champaign (calendar)

Meetings are held at the City Council Chambers ( or you can Live Stream or watch the videos later here) unless otherwise indicated. How to address the council information. 102 N. Neil St., Champaign (map)

Champaign Human Relations Commission: June 4th @ 5:30pm

Meetings are held on the 1st Monday of each month at 5:30 pm in City Council Chambers, 102 N. Neil St., Champaign.

Champaign City Council:

• Regular Meetings: June 5th and June 19th @ 7pm
•  Regular meetings of the City Council are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers of the City Building, 102 N Neil Street, Champaign.  Regular meetings are used to conduct the legislative work of the City, including voting on Ordinances, Resolutions, holding public hearings, and approving expenditures.  Major items of legislation are often discussed in Study Session meetings prior to being voted on during a Regular Meeting.

• Study Session Meetings: June 12th and June 26th @ 7pm
•  Study Session meetings of the City Council are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers of the City Building, 102 N Neil Street, Champaign. Study Session meetings are used to engage in an in-depth analysis and discussion of a particular topic.  Informal polls are commonly taken by the Council to provide general staff direction on the subject being discussed, but no formal action is taken during Study Session meetings.  Study Session topics needing formal approval will be place on a subsequent Regular Meeting agenda for a Council vote.

Urbana (calendar)

Meetings are held at the Urbana City Council Chambers (links to agendas and videos here) unless indicated otherwise. Meeting brochure with protocols. 400 S. Vine St., Urbana (map)

Urbana Human Relations Commission: June 13th @ 5:30pm

The Commission holds regular monthly meetings on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. in the Urbana City Council Chambers. Special meetings may be held as deemed necessary. 

Urbana City Council:

• Regular Meetings: June 4th and June 18th @ 7pm
•  The Council meets twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month at 7pm.
• Committee of the Whole Meetings: June 11th and June 25th @ 7pm
•  The Committee of the Whole meets on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at 7pm.

The City Council establishes laws for citizen welfare, determines policies that govern providing municipal services and approves certain Mayoral appointments.

County Government: The Week Ahead posts