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.