City of Urbana Roundup

Here are some more general City of Urbana news items from the past month. If you're looking for updates on Urbana candidates, Urbana High School violence, Urbana poverty information, or Urbana Park grants, just click on the links for those earlier Cheat Sheet posts. Most of the regular City Council news was about the "Gather" development details being debated prior to Council  approval at the February 25th Special City Council Meeting. From the News-Gazette the next day:

Urbana council approves rezoning agreement for 'Gather' developmentThe city council signed off Tuesday on plans for a mixed-use development just north of the West Main Street Historic District.

Aldermen voted 4-1, with abstentions from Maryalice Wu and Jared Miller, to approve a rezoning agreement that would allow construction of the five-story section of the "Gather" development, a project that is expected to bring 200 apartments, 16 townhomes and 50 extended-stay hotel rooms, as well as 15,000 square feet of lobby, small-scale retail and outdoor public areas.

Many of the concerns raised by future neighbors of the proposed development during plan commission meetings took center stage Monday as aldermen considered the zoning change and a special-use permit, which the council approved unanimously.

Full article with more details here. Details of the developers original vision for the development in this January article. More background on the disagreements going into the vote in the News-Gazette article previewing the City Council meeting here. One of the issues that was raised in that article and an earlier blurb was whether the development would be capped at 65 feet in height. The final approval included that limit "except that the building height may reach 70 feet near the northeast corner of the building to accommodate roof access."

Other City of Urbana highlights in the last month or so involved parking lots and their respective owners. True story:


Fighting over parking spaces:

In an earlier City Council meeting there was a fight over a dangerously laid out parking lot. From the News-Gazette earlier in the month:

Urbana council's plan for Broadway Food Hall's parking lot has co-owner upset
After a contentious meeting between Urbana City Council members and a Broadway Food Hall co-owner over the illegally striped parking lot at the restaurant, city officials voted on a plan that would reconfigure the lot.

The parking lot, right now, does not conform to the city's design standards, staff argued Monday, and frequently results in illegal parking that makes accessibility difficult and pedestrian activity in the area potentially dangerous.

The city plans to narrow one of the lot's two wide driveways, remove three parking stalls and install wheel-stops in all parking spaces that abut the public sidewalk.

More details and arguments about the costs and cost sharing here.


"Arts-centered housing project"

Another development, described as an "arts-centered housing project" fell through:

Developer pulls out of proposed arts-centered housing project near Lincoln Square
A Northbrook-based developer is pulling out of an arts-centered housing project planned near Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana, officials told News-Gazette Media today.

Brinshore Development Director Richard Sciortino cited "external funding factors" as the reason.

The project, announced in December, would have used city-owned parking lots south of the mall and included an arts and cultural center operated by the city.

It also would have included nine "tiny" homes and six artist "live-work units," the city said in December.

Last month, the city council approved removing the parking lots where the project would go.

Full article here. Previous Cheat Sheet post on approving the parking lots to be used for the project here.


Lincoln Square ideas... and the owner's opinion too:

And finally, the results of the Lincoln Square survey are in. The one the city did to solicit ideas about what to do with the Lincoln Square property they don't actually own:. Tom Kacich asked him about it when the city first started soliciting ideas for it:

It's great that people have grand ideas for what to do with the Lincoln Square mall and its parking lots that lie smack in the middle of downtown Urbana...

But wait a minute. Lincoln Square may feel like a public space, but it isn't. It's not owned by the city of Urbana or the university or Carle.

It's owned by Jim Webster, a guy who took a fly on a downtown mall about 15 years ago and deserves some respect before we all decide what to do with his property...

Webster said he's grateful for all the interest in Lincoln Square, although he sounded a little miffed that no one seems to be including him in the discussion about its future.

With the results of the survey (available here) in hand, it seemed to help confirm the owner's intuition:

None of this was too surprising to mall owner Jim Webster.

"I don't think the results were too surprising or anything, yet it reinforces some intuitive thoughts we had concerning what's wanted and what's needed," he said. "So that was very helpful in that respect because a lot of it's consistent with what we'd like to do."

He said "developing the whole arts idea is always something we really thought was a natural in Urbana, and more greenery. And developing more of a streetscape along here with tables, chairs, plants, so people feel like it's an indoor-outdoor type of environment."

But don't expect him to open up the roof.

"It wouldn't be feasible," he said, citing the heating, cooling and infrastructure changes that would need to be made. "We're in a climate where you don't want to be outside the majority of the year."

And while grand ideas were suggested for the mall, Webster cautioned, "I still have to try to make it profitable."

Full article with the survey results here.